SOMETHING^MEN 
I ILWE  KNOWN 

ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


JOHN  T.  LILL.ARD 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILLINOIS 


SOMETHING  OF 
MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 


PHOTO    BY    SARONY 


SOMETHING  OF 
MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 


WITH  SOME  PAPERS  OF  A  GENERAL  NATURE, 

POLITICAL,  HISTORICAL,  AND 

RETROSPECTIVE 


BY 

ADLAI   E.  STEVENSON 


FULLY  ILLUSTRATED 


SECOND  EDITION 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 
1909 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Op  CALIFO 
DA  VI 3 


COPYRIGHT 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1909 

Published  October,  1909 
Second  Edition,  December  17, 1909 


fffje 

R.  R.  DONNELLEY  &  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


TO  MY  WIFE 

ietttta  <0reen  &>tetoen0on 

THE  PATIENT  LISTENER  TO  THESE 
" TWICE-TOLD  TALES" 


FOREWORD 

TO  WRITE  in  the  spirit  of  candor  of  men  he  has  known, 
and  of  great  events  in  which  he  has  himself  borne  no 
inconspicuous  part,  has  been  thought  not  an  unworthy  task 
for  the  closing  years  of  more  than  one  of  the  most  eminent  of 
our  public  men.  It  may  be  that  the  labor  thus  imposed  has 
oftentimes  enabled  the  once  active  participant  in  great 
affairs  submissively  "to  entertain  the  lag  end  of  his  life 
with  quiet  hours." 

Following  the  example  of  such  at  a  great  distance  and 
along  a  humbler  path,  I  have  attempted  to  write  something 
of  events  of  which  I  have  been  a  witness,  and  of  some  of  the 
principal  actors  therein  during  the  last  third  of  a  century. 

My  book  in  the  main  is  something  of  men  I  have  person 
ally  known;  the  occasional  mention  of  statesmen  of  the  past 
seems  justified  by  matters  at  the  time  under  discussion. 

With  the  hope  that  it  may  not  be  wholly  without  interest 
to  some  into  whose  hands  it  may  fall,  I  now  submit  this 
slight  contribution  to  the  political  literature  of  these  passing 
days.  A.  E.  S. 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILLINOIS, 
Auguttl,  1909. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  ON  THE  CIRCUIT        .... 

II.  IN  THE  HOUSE  OP  REPRESENTATIVES  . 

III.  AGAIN  IN  CONGRESS  .... 

IV.  THE  VICE-PRESIDENT 

V.  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  . 

VI.  A  TRIBUTE  TO  LINCOLN     . 

VII.  STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS 

VIII.  THE  FIRST  POLITICAL  TELEGRAM 

IX.  ALONG  THE  BYPATHS  OF  HISTORY 

X.  THE  CODE  OF  HONOR 

XI.  A  PRINCELY  GIFT 

XII.  THE  OLD  RANGER     .... 

XIII.  THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS 

XIV.  A  KENTUCKY  COLONEL 

XV.  FORGOTTEN  EVENTS  OF  THE  LONG  AGO 

XVI.  ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL 

XVII.  A  CAMP-MEETING  ORATOR  . 

XVIII.  CLEVELAND  AS  I  KNEW  HIM 

XIX.  THE  UNANIMOUS  CHOICE  FOR  SPEAKER 

XX.  A  LAWYER  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL 

XXI.  HIGH  DEBATE  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS 

XXII.  THE  SAGE  OF  THE  BAR 

XXIII.  "THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  MISSISSIPPI" 

XXIV.  AN  OLD-TIME  COUNTRY  DOCTOR 
XXV.  A  QUESTION  OF  AVAILABILITY    . 

XXVI.  A  STATESMAN  OF  A  PAST  ERA   . 

XXVII.  NOT  GUILTY  OF  PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL 

XXVIII.  AMONG  THE  ACTORS  .... 

XXIX.  THE  LOST  ART  OF  ORATORY 


PAGE 
1 

12 
47 
60 
67 
82 
92 
128 
136 
146 
174 
182 
197 
216 
219 
225 
229 
239 
246 
251 
25o 
262 
268 
273 
285 
288 
295 
302 


CONTENTS—  Continued 


CHAPTER 

XXX.  THE  COLONELS  ...... 

XXXI.  REMINISCENCES.         ..... 

XXXII.  A  TRIBUTE  TO  IRELAND     .         .         .         . 

XXXIII.  THE  BLIND  CHAPLAIN        .         .         .         . 

XXXIV.  A  MEMORABLE  CENTENNIAL        .         .         . 
XXXV.  COLUMBUS  MONUMENT  IN  CENTRAL  PARK    . 

XXXVI.  A  PLATFORM  NOT  DANGEROUS  TO  STAND  UPON 

XXXVII.  ANECDOTES  OP  GOVERNOR  OGLESBY    .         . 

XXXVIII.  THE  ONE  ENEMY  >:.  l    >=>  '    ^    '  .  .T  *  . 

XXXIX.  CONTRASTS  OP  TIMES  .       A;      .     ®..^(7. 

XL.  ENDORSING  THE  ADMINISTRATION     ;  •'  .  <*  ;  C 

XLI.  ANECDOTES  ABOUT  LINCOLN       .         .         . 

XLII.  FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA  . 

XLIII.  A  NEW  DAY  ADDED  TO  THE  CALENDAR      . 

XLIV.  A  MOUNTAIN  COLLEGE       .         .     *'  ..&  X. 

XLV.  DEDICATION  OF  A  NATIONAL  PARK     .      */. 

XL  VI.  A  BAR  MEETING  STILL  IN  SESSION     .         . 

XL  VII.  THE  HA  YNE-  WEBSTER  DEBATE  RECALLED  . 

XL  VIII.  IN  THE  HIGHLANDS   ..... 

XLIX.  ANECDOTES  OF  LAWYERS    .... 

L.  OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  ..... 

LI.  THE  "  HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON 


318 
321 
329 
332 
334 
342 
344 
346 
348 
349 

350 
352 
355 
368 
371 
376 
378 
381 
383 
386 
397 
413 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON    .         .         .  Frontispiece 

ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON  AT  30 8 

JAMES  S.  EWING 9 

GEORGE  F.  HOAR 12 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN 13 

JAMES  G.  ELAINE 18 

ROBERT  E.  WILLIAMS   ...                 ...  19 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD      .......  22 

NATH.  P.  BANKS 23 

WILLIAM  R.  MORRISON 26 

WILLIAM  M.  SPRINGER 27 

SAMUEL  J.  RANDALL     .......  30 

ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS      .         .         .         .         .         .30 

Lucius  Q.  C.  LAMAR 30 

JAMES  B.  BECK 30 

DAVID  DUDLEY  FIELD 31 

HENRY  WATTERSON      .......  33 

SAMUEL  S.  Cox     ........  34 

LEVI  P.  MORTON  ........  48 

JAMES  A.  MCKENZIE 49 

WILLIAM  McKiNLEY 56 

SENATE  TESTIMONIAL  TO  MR.  STEVENSON  AS  PRESIDENT 

OF  SENATE        ........  57 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 82 

ANDREW  JOHNSON 83 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 100 

HORATIO  SEYMOUR 101 

STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS   .......  126 

SAMUEL  F.  B.  MORSE 127 

WILLIAM  M.  GWIN 170 

JAMES  SHIELDS     ........  171 

JAMES  SMITHSON  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .174 

xi 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  —  Continued 

PAGE 

JOSEPH  HENRY 175 

JOHN  REYNOLDS  .         .         .         .         .                  .         .  196 

JOSEPH  SMITH      ........  197 

R.  G.  INGERSOLL 226 

PETER  CARTWRIGHT      .         .         .....  227 

CLEVELAND  AND  STEVENSON        ...         .         .         .  240 

WILLIAM  FREEMAN  VILAS     ?        j:3  T-A.  •       .         .         .  241 

WILLIAM  M.  Ev ARTS     .       u       . .         .       ,  ;>;      .         .  262 

JOE  WHEELER      .      ;>       ,.       ,.      ••.•«••.    ty<       .         .  263 

DAVID  DAVIS     .,-,  .    ..,,.       <.       . ,         .        v     r^J      »  286 

S.  S.  PRENTISS      .         .       ^      ,.        .      ,  i/.    ,  ;j  .     *  287 

EDWIN  BOOTH      .         .      /v,       ,,       , .  -^  ; .,;*ui  !> '  *£  ;•*  304 

JOSEPH  JEFFERSON        .         .       ..       ..         .     ^.0  .     *.  305 

RUFUS  CHOATE     .         .         .         .         .         .         ..-.?*  312 

ISAAC  N.  PHILLIPS 313 

WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 316 

W.  H.  MILBURN 317 

R.  J.  OGLESBY 346 

JOSEPH  W.  FIFER          .......  347 

LAWRENCE  WELDON      .      1*£        .....  352 

THOMAS  F.  MARSHALL  .         .  - 353 

MATTHEW  T.  SCOTT      *      ^- 372 

ADLAI  E.STEVENSON    .      .i,,     *•      •-.*  -.;•      .         .         .  373 

LYMAN  TRUMBULL       ^  ....,>,. 382 

HOME  OF  ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON,  BLOOMINGTON,  ILL.         .  383 


SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I 
HAVE  KNOWN 


ON  THE   CIRCUIT 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  COUNTRY  AFTER  THE  CIVIL  WAR SLAV 
ERY  THE  APPLE  OF  DISCORD  BEFORE  THE  WAR LINCOLN  AS 

A  COUNTRY  LAWYER  —  SOCIABILITY  OF  THE  LAWYERS  OF  THE 

PERIOD  —  THEIR  EXCELLENCE  AS  ORATORS HENRY  CLAY  AS 

A    PARTY    LEADER  —  EULOGIUMS    ON     LAWYERS LINCOLN'S 

ADMIRATION  FOR  GENERAL  WINFIELD  SCOTT  —  THE  WRITER'S 
ADDRESS  ON  THE   LAW  AND  LAWYERS. 

THE  period  extending  from  my  first  election  to  Congress 
in  1874,  to  my  retirement  from  the  Vice-Presidency  in 
1897,  was  one  of  marvellous  development  to  the  coun 
try.  Large  enterprises  were  undertaken,  and  the  sure  founda 
tion  was  laid  for  much  of  existing  business  conditions.  The 
South  had  recovered  from  the  sad  effects  of  the  Civil  War,  and 
had  in  a  measure  regained  its  former  position  in  the  world 
of  trade,  as  well  as  in  that  pertaining  to  the  affairs  of  the 
Government.  The  population  of  the  country  had  almost 
doubled;  the  ratio  of  representation  in  the  Lower  House  of 
Congress  largely  augmented;  the  entire  electoral  vote  increased 
from  369  to  444.  Eight  new  States  had  been  admitted  to 
the  Union,  thus  increasing  the  number  of  Senators  from 
seventy-four  to  ninety. 

The  years  mentioned  likewise  witnessed  the  passing  from 
the  national  stage,  with  few  exceptions,  of  the  men  who  had 
taken  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  great  debates  directly  pre 
ceding  and  during  the  Civil  War  and  the  reconstruction  period 
which  immediately  followed.  By  the  arbitrament  of  war, 


f  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  by  constitutional  amendment,  old  questions,  for  a  half- 
century  the  prime  cause  of  sectional  strife,  had  been  irrevo 
cably  settled,  and  passed  to  the  domain  of  history  New  men 
had  come  to  the  front,  and  new  questions  were  to  be  dis 
cussed  and  determined. 

To  the  student  of  history,  the  years  immediately  pre 
ceding  the  Civil  War  are  of  abiding  interest.  In  some  of 
its  phases  slavery  was  the  all-absorbing  subject  of  debate 
throughout  the  entire  country.  It  had  been  the  one  recog 
nized  peril  to  the  Union  since  the  formation  of  the  Govern 
ment.  Beginning  with  the  debates  in  the  convention  that 
formulated  the  Federal  Constitution,  it  remained  for  seventy 
years  the  apple  of  discord,  —  the  subject  of  patriotic  appre 
hension  and  repeated  compromise.  The  last  serious  attempt 
to  settle  this  question  in  the  manner  just  indicated  was  by  the 
adjustment  known  in  our  political  history  as  "the  compro 
mise  measures  of  1850."  These  measures,  although  bitterly 
denounced  hi  the  South  as  well  as  in  the  North,  received  the 
sanction  hi  national  convention  of  both  of  the  great  parties 
that  two  years  later  presented  candidates  for  the  Presidency. 
It  is  no  doubt  true  that  a  majority  of  the  people,  in  both  sec 
tions  of  the  country,  then  believed  that  the  question  that  had 
been  so  fraught  with  peril  to  national  unity  from  the  begin 
ning  was  at  length  settled  for  all  time.  The  rude  awakening 
came  two  years  later,  when  the  country  was  aroused,  as  it 
had  rarely  been  before,  by  impassioned  debate  in  and  out  of 
Congress,  over  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  It 
was  a  period  of  excitement  such  as  we  shall  probably  not  see 
again.  Slavery  hi  all  its  phases  was  the  one  topic  of  earnest 
discussion,  both  upon  the  hustings  and  at  the  fireside.  There 
was  little  talk  now  of  compromise.  The  old-time  statesmen 
of  the  Clay  and  Webster,  Winthrop  and  Crittenden,  school 
soon  disappeared  from  the  arena.  Men  hitherto  compara 
tively  unknown  to  the  country  at  large  were  soon  to  the  front. 

Conspicuous  among  them  was  a  country  lawyer  whose 
home  was  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  With  the  mighty  events 
soon  to  follow,  his  name  is  imperishably  linked.  But  it  is 
not  of  Lincoln  the  President,  the  emancipator,  the  martyr, 


ON   THE   CIRCUIT  * 

we  are  now  to  speak.  It  is  of  Lincoln  the  country  lawyer,  as 
he  stepped  upon  the  arena  of  high  debate,  the  unswerving 
antagonist  of  slavery  extension  half  a  century  and  more  ago. 
His  home,  during  his  entire  professional  life,  was  at  the 
capital  of  the  State.  He  was,  at  the  time  mentioned,  in 
general  practice  as  a  lawyer  and  a  regular  attendant  upon  the 
neighboring  courts.  His  early  opportunities  for  education 
were  meagre  indeed.  He  had  been  a  student  of  men,  rather 
than  of  books.  He  was,  in  the  most  expressive  sense,  "of  the 
people,"  —  the  people  as  they  then  were.  For, 

"Know  thou  this,  that  men  are  as  the  time  is." 

His  training  was,  in  large  measure,  under  the  severe  condi 
tions  to  be  briefly  mentioned.  The  old-time  custom  of 
"riding  the  circuit"  is  to  the  present  generation  of  lawyers 
only  a  tradition.  The  few  who  remember  central  Illinois  as 
it  was  sixty  years  ago  will  readily  recall  the  full  meaning  of 
the  expression.  The  district  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  practised 
extended  from  the  counties  of  Livingston  and  Woodford 
upon  the  north,  almost  to  the  Indiana  line  —  embracing  the 
present  cities  of  Danville,  Springfield,  and  Bloomington. 
The  last  named  was  the  home  of  the  Hon.  David  Davis,  the 
presiding  judge  of  the  district.  As  is  well  known,  he  was  the 
intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  latter  was  often  his 
guest  during  attendance  upon  the  courts  at  Bloomington. 
At  that  early  day,  the  term  of  court  in  few  of  the  counties 
continued  longer  than  a  week,  so  that  much  of  the  time  of  the 
judge  and  the  lawyers  who  travelled  the  circuit  with  him  was 
spent  upon  horseback.  When  it  is  remembered  that  there 
were  then  no  railroads,  but  few  bridges,  a  sparse  population, 
and  that  more  than  half  of  the  area  embraced  in  the  district 
was  unbroken  prairie,  the  real  significance  of  riding  the  cir 
cuit  will  fully  appear.  It  was  of  this  period  that  the  late 
Governor  Ford,  speaking  of  Judge  Young,  —  whose  district 
extended  from  Quincy,  upon  the  Mississippi  River  to  Chi 
cago, —  said:  "He  possesses  in  rare  degree  one  of  the  high 
est  requisites  for  a  good  circuit  judge,  —  he  is  an  excellent 
horseback  rider." 


4  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

At  the  period  mentioned  there  were  few  law-books  in  the 
State.  The  monster  libraries  of  later  days  had  not  yet  ar 
rived.  The  half-dozen  volumes  of  State  Reports,  together 
with  the  Statutes  and  a  few  leading  text-books,  constituted 
the  lawyer's  library.  To  an  Illinois  lawyer  upon  the  cir 
cuit,  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  was  an  indispensable  part  of  his 
outfit.  With  these,  containing  the  few  books  mentioned  and 
a  change  or  two  of  linen,  and  supplied  with  the  necessary 
horse,  saddle  and  bridle,  the  lawyer  of  the  pioneer  days  was 
duly  equipped  for  the  active  duties  of  his  calling.  The  lack 
of  numerous  volumes  of  adjudicated  cases  was,  however,  not 
an  unmixed  evil.  Causes  were  necessarily  argued  upon  prin 
ciple.  How  well  this  conduced  to  the  making  of  the  real 
lawyer  is  well  known.  The  admonition,  "Beware  the  man 
who  reads  but  one  book,"  is  of  deep  significance.  The  com 
plaint  to-day  is  not  of  scarcity,  but  that  "of  the  making  of 
many  books  there  is  no  end."  Professor  Phelps  is  authority 
for  the  statement  that  "it  is  easy  to  find  single  opinions  in 
which  more  authorities  are  cited  than  were  mentioned  by 
Marshall  in  the  whole  thirty  years  of  his  unexampled  judicial 
life;  and  briefs  that  contain  more  cases  than  Webster  referred 
to  in  all  the  arguments  he  ever  delivered." 

The  lawyers  of  the  times  whereof  we  write  were,  almost 
without  exception,  politicians  —  in  close  touch  with  the 
people,  easy  of  approach,  and  obliging  to  the  last  degree. 
Generally  speaking,  a  lawyer's  office  was  as  open  to  the  pub 
lic  as  the  Courthouse  itself.  That  his  surroundings  were 
favorable  to  the  cultivation  of  a  high  degree  of  sociability 
goes  without  saying.  Story-telling  helped  often  on  the  cir 
cuit  to  while  away  the  long  evenings  at  country  taverns. 
At  times,  perchance, 

"The  night  drave  on  wi'  sangs  and  clatter." 

Oratory  counted  for  much  more  then  than  now.  When 
an  important  case  was  on  trial  all  other  pursuits  were  for 
the  time  suspended,  and  the  people  for  miles  around  were  in 
prompt  attendance.  This  was  especially  the  case  when  it 


ON  THE  CIRCUIT  5 

was  known  that  one  or  more  of  the  leading  advocates  were  to 
speak.  The  litigation,  too,  was  to  a  large  extent  different 
from  that  of  to-day.  The  country  was  new,  population  sparse; 
the  luxuries  and  many  of  the  comforts  of  life  yet  in  the  future; 
post-offices,  schools,  and  churches  many  miles  away.  In 
every  cabin  were  to  be  found  the  powder-horn,  bullet-pouch, 
and  rifle.  The  restraints  and  amenities  of  modern  society 
were  in  large  measure  unknown;  and  altogether  much  was  to 
be,  and  was,  ' 'pardoned  to  the  spirit  of  liberty."  There  were 
no  great  corporations  to  be  chosen  defendants,  but  much  of 
the  time  of  the  courts  was  taken  up  by  suits  in  ejectment, 
actions  for  assault  and  battery,  breach  of  promise,  and  slander. 
One,  not  infrequent,  was  replevin,  involving  the  ownership 
of  hogs,  when  by  unquestioned  usage  all  stock  was  permit 
ted  to  run  at  large.  But  criminal  trials  of  all  grades,  and  in 
all  their  details,  aroused  the  deepest  interest.  To  these  the 
people  came  from  all  directions,  as  if  summoned  to  a  general 
muster.  This  was  especially  true  if  a  murder  case  was  upon 
trial.  Excitement  then  ran  high,  and  the  arguments  of  coun 
sel,  from  beginning  to  close,  were  listened  to  with  breathless 
interest.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  such  occasions  furnished 
rare  opportunity  to  the  gifted  advocate.  In  very  truth  the 
general  acquaintance  thus  formed,  and  the  popularity 
achieved,  have  marked  the  beginning  of  more  than  one  suc 
cessful  and  brilliant  political  career.  Moreover,  the  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  people  thus  acquired  by  actual  contact  — 
the  knowledge  of  their  condition,  necessities,  and  wishes  — 
resulted  often  in  legislation  of  enduring  benefit  to  the  new 
country.  The  Homestead  law,  the  law  setting  apart  a  moiety 
of  the  public  domain  for  the  maintenance  of  free  schools,  and 
judicious  provision  for  the  establishment  of  the  various  chari 
ties,  will  readily  be  recalled. 

Politics,  in  the  modern  sense — too  often  merely  "for  what 
there  is  in  it" —  was  unknown.  As  stepping-stones  to  local 
offices  and  even  to  Congress,  the  caucus  and  the  convention 
were  yet  to  come.  Aspirants  to  public  place  presented  their 
claims  directly  to  the  people,  and  the  personal  popularity  of 


6  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  candidate  was  an  important  factor  in  achieving  success. 
Bribery  at  elections  was  rarely  heard  of.  The  saying  of  the 
great  bard, 

"  If  money  go  before. 
All  ways  do  open  lie," 

awaited  its  verification  in  a  later  and  more  civilized  period. 
As  late  even  as  1858,  when  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  rival 
aspirants  to  the  Senate,  when  every  voter  in  the  State  was 
a  partisan  of  one  or  the  other  candidate,  and  the  excitement 
was  for  many  months  intense,  there  was  never,  from  either 
side,  an  intimation  of  the  corrupt  use  of  a  farthing  to  influence 
the  result. 

No  period  of  our  history  has  witnessed  more  intense  devo 
tion  to  great  party  leaders  than  that  of  which  we  write.  Of 
eminent  statesmen,  whose  names  were  still  invoked,  none 
had  filled  larger  space  than  did  Henry  Clay  and  Andrew  Jack 
son.  The  former  was  the  early  political  idol  of  Mr.  Lincoln; 
the  latter,  of  Mr.  Douglas.  Possibly,  since  the  foundation 
of  the  Government,  no  statesman  has  been  so  completely 
idolized  by  his  friends  and  party  as  was  Henry  Clay.  Words 
are  meaningless  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  express  the 
idolatry  of  the  Whigs  of  his  own  State  for  their  great  chief 
tain.  For  a  lifetime  he  knew  no  rival.  His  wish  was  law 
to  his  followers.  In  the  realm  of  party  leadership  a  greater 
than  he  hath  not  appeared.  At  his  last  defeat  for  the  Presi 
dency  strong  men  wept  bitter  tears.  When  his  star  set,  it 
was  felt  to  be  the  signal  for  the  dissolution  of  the  great  party 
of  which  he  was  the  founder.  In  words  worthy  to  be  recalled, 
"when  the  tidings  came  like  wailing  over  the  State  that 
Harry  Percy's  spur  was  cold,  the  chivalrous  felt  somehow  the 
world  had  grown  commonplace." 

The  following  incident,  along  the  line  indicated,  may  be 
considered  characteristic.  While  Mr.  Clay  was  a  Senator,  a 
resolution,  in  accordance  with  a  sometime  custom,  was  intro 
duced  into  the  Kentucky  House  of  Representatives  instructing 
the  Senators  from  that  State  to  vote  in  favor  of  a  certain  bill 
then  pending  in  Congress.  The  resolution  was  in  the  act  of 
passing  without  opposition,  when  a  hitherto  silent  member 


ON  THE  CIRCUIT  7 

from  one  of  the  mountain  counties,  springing  to  his  feet, 
exclaimed:  "Mr.  Speaker,  am  I  to  understand  that  this 
Legislature  is  undertaking  to  tell  Henry  Clay  how  to  vote?" 
The  Speaker  answered  that  such  was  the  purport  of  the  reso 
lution.  At  which  the  member  from  the  mountains,  throw 
ing  up  his  arms,  exclaimed  "Great  God!"  and  sank  into  his 
seat.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  resolution  was  imme 
diately  rejected  by  unanimous  vote. 

Two- thirds  of  a  century  ago  the  Hon.  John  P.  Kennedy 
wrote  of  the  lawyers  of  his  day : 

"  The  feelings,  habits,  and  associations  of  the  bar  in  general, 
have  a  very  happy  influence  upon  the  character.  And,  take 
it  altogether,  there  may  be  collected  from  it  a  greater  mass  of 
shrewd,  observant,  droll,  playful,  and  generous  spirits,  than 
from  any  other  equal  numbers  of  society.  They  live  in  each 
other's  presence  like  a  set  of  players;  congregate  in  courts  like 
the  former  in  the  green  room;  and  break  their  unpremeditated 
jests,  in  the  intervals  of  business,  with  that  sort  of  undress 
freedom  that  contrasts  amusingly  with  the  solemn  and  even 
tragic  seriousness  with  which  they  appear  in  turn  upon  the 
boards.  They  have  one  face  for  the  public,  rife  with  the  saws 
and  learned  gravity  of  the  profession,  and  another  for  them 
selves,  replete  with  broad  mirth,  sprightly  wit,  and  gay  thought 
lessness.  The  intense  mental  toil  and  fatigue  of  business  give 
them  a  peculiar  relish  for  the  enjoyment  of  their  hours  of  relaxa 
tion,  and,  in  the  same  degree,  incapacitate  them  for  that  frugal 
attention  to  their  private  concerns  which  their  limited  means 
usually  require.  They  have,  in  consequence,  a  prevailing  air 
of  unthriftiness  in  personal  matters,  which,  however  it  may 
operate  to  the  prejudice  of  the  pocket  of  the  individual,  has  a 
mellow  and  kindly  effect  upon  his  disposition.  In  an  old  member 
of  the  profession,  one  who  has  grown  gray  in  the  service,  there 
is  a  rich  unction  of  originality  that  brings  him  out  from  the 
ranks  of  his  fellowmen  in  strong  relief.  His  habitual  conver- 
sancy  with  the  world  in  its  strangest  varieties  and  with  the  secret 
history  of  character,  gives  him  a  shrewd  estimate  of  the  human 
heart.  He  is  quiet,  and  unapt  to  be  struck  with  wonder  at  any 
of  the  actions  of  men.  There  is  a  deep  current  of  observation 
running  calmly  through  his  thoughts,  and  seldom  gushing  out 
in  words;  the  confidence  which  has  been  placed  in  him,  in  the 
thousand  relations  of  his  profession,  renders  him  constitutionally 
cautious.  His  acquaintance  with  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune, 
as  they  have  been  exemplified  in  the  lives  of  individuals,  and 


8  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

with  the  severe  afflictions  that  have  'tried  the  reins'  of  many, 
known  only  to  himself,  makes  him  an  indulgent  and  charitable 
apologist  of  the  aberrations  of  others.  He  has  an  impregnable 
good  humor  that  never  falls  below  the  level  of  thoughtfulness 
into  melancholy. " 

A  distinguished  writer,  two  generations  ago,  said  of  the 
early  Western  bar: 

"  Not  only  was  it  a  body  distinguished  for  dignity  and  tol 
erance,  but  chivalrous  courage  was  a  marked  characteristic. 
Personal  cowardice  was  odious  among  the  bar,  as  among  the 
hunters  who  had  fought  the  British  and  the  Indians.  Hence, 
insulting  language,  and  the  use  of  billingsgate,  were  too  hazardous 
to  be  indulged  where  a  personal  accounting  was  a  strong  possi 
bility.  Not  only  did  common  prudence  dictate  courtesy  among 
the  members  of  the  bar,  but  an  exalted  spirit  of  honor  and  well- 
bred  politeness  prevailed.  The  word  of  a  counsel  to  his  adver 
sary  was  his  inviolable  bond.  The  suggestion  of  a  lawyer  as 
to  the  existence  of  a  fact  was  accepted  as  verity  by  the  court. 
To  insinuate  unprofessional  conduct  was  to  impute  infamy." 

I  distinctly  recall  the  first  time  I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln.  In 
September,  1852,  two  lawyers  from  Springfield,  somewhat 
travel-stained  with  their  sixty  miles'  journey,  alighted  from 
the  stage-coach  in  front  of  the  old  tavern  in  Bloomington. 
The  taller  and  younger  of  the  two  was  Abraham  Lincoln; 
the  other,  his  personal  friend  and  former  preceptor,  John  T. 
Stuart.  That  evening  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  hear  Mr. 
Lincoln  address  a  political  meeting  at  the  old  Courthouse 
in  advocacy  of  the  election  of  General  Winfield  Scott  to  the 
Presidency.  The  speech  was  one  of  great  ability,  and  but 
little  that  was  favorable  of  the  military  record  of  General 
Pierce  remained  when  the  speech  was  concluded.  The 
Mexican  War  was  then  of  recent  occurrence,  its  startling 
events  fresh  in  the  memory  of  all,  and  its  heroes  still  the  heroes 
of  the  hour.  The  more  than  half -century  that  has  passed 
has  not  wholly  dispelled  my  recollection  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
eloquent  tribute  to  "the  hero  of  Lundy's  Lane,"  and  his 
humorous  description  of  the  military  career  of  General  Frank 
lin  Pierce. 

The  incident  now  to  be  related  occurred  at  the  old  National 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON   AT  30 


JAMES  S.  EWING 


ON  THE  CIRCUIT  9 

Hotel  in  Bloomington  in  September,  1854.  Senator  Doug 
las  had  been  advertised  to  speak,  and  a  large  audience  was 
in  attendance.  It  was  his  first  appearance  there  since  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.  The  writer,  then  a  student 
at  the  Wesleyan  University,  with  his  classmate  James  S. 
Ewing  and  many  others,  had  called  upon  Mr.  Douglas  at  his 
hotel.  While  there  the  Hon.  Jesse  W.  Fell,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Bloomington  and  the  close  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
also  called  upon  Mr.  Douglas,  and  after  some  conversation 
with  him  said  in  substance,  that  inasmuch  as  there  was  pro 
found  interest  felt  in  the  great  question  then  pending,  and 
the  people  were  anxious  to  hear  both  sides,  he  thought  it 
would  be  well  to  have  a  joint  discussion  between  Judge  Doug 
las  and  Mr.  Lincoln.  To  which  proposition  Mr.  Douglas 
at  once  demanded,  "What  party  does  Mr.  Lincoln  repre 
sent?"  The  answer  of  Mr.  Fell  was,  "The  Whig  party,  of 
course."  Declining  the  proposition  with  much  feeling  Mr. 
Douglas  said,  "When  I  came  home  from  Washington  I  was 
assailed  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  by  an  old  line  aboli 
tionist,  in  the  central  part  of  the  State  by  a  Whig,  and  in 
southern  Illinois  by  an  anti-Nebraska  Democrat.  I  cannot 
hold  the  Whig  responsible  for  what  the  abolitionist  says,  nor 
the  anti-Nebraska  Democrat  responsible  for  what  either  of 
the  others  say,  and  it  looks  like  dogging  a  man  all  over  the 
State."  There  was  no  further  allusion  to  the  subject,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  soon  after  called.  The  greeting  between  Judge 
Douglas  and  himself  was  most  cordial,  and  their  conversa 
tion,  principally  of  incidents  of  their  early  lives,  of  the  most 
agreeable  and  familiar  character.  Judge  Lawrence  Weldon, 
just  then  at  the  beginning  of  an  honorable  career,  was  present 
at  the  above  interview,  and  has  in  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
given  its  incidents  more  in  detail. 

Courts  of  justice,  and  the  law  as  a  distinctive  calling, 
are  the  necessary  outgrowths  of  civilization.  In  his  rude 
state,  man  avenged  his  wrongs  with  his  own  strong  arm,  and 
the  dogma,  "Might  makes  right,"  passed  unchallenged.  But 
as  communities  assumed  organic  form,  tribunals  were  insti 
tuted  for  the  administration  of  justice  and  the  maintenance 


10  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  public  order.  The  progress  of  society,  from  a  condition 
of  semi-barbarism  and  ignorance  to  a  state  of  the  highest 
culture  and  refinement,  may  be  traced  by  its  advancement 
in  the  modes  of  administering  justice,  and  in  the  character  and 
learning  of  its  tribunals.  The  advance  steps  taken  from  time 
to  time  in  the  history  of  jurisprudence  are  the  milestones 
which  stand  out  on  the  highway  of  civilization.  All  along 
the  pathway  of  human  progress,  the  courts  of  justice  have 
been  the  sure  criteria  by  which  to  judge  of  the  intelligence 
and  virtue  of  our  race. 

Truly  it  has  been  said:  "With  the  coming  of  the  lawyer 
came  a  new  power  in  the  world.  The  steel-clad  baron  and 
his  retainers  were  awed  by  terms  they  had  never  before  heard 
and  did  not  understand,  such  as  precedent,  principle,  and 
the  like.  The  great  and  real  pacifier  of  the  world  was  the 
lawyer.  His  parchment  took  the  place  of  the  battle-field. 
The  flow  of  his  ink  checked  the  flow  of  blood.  His  quill 
usurped  the  place  of  the  sword.  His  legalism  dethroned 
barbarism.  His  victories  were  victories  of  peace.  He 
impressed  on  individuals  and  on  communities  that  which  he 
is  now  endeavoring  to  impress  on  nations,  that  there  are 
many  controversies  that  it  were  better  to  lose  by  arbitration 
than  to  win  by  war  and  bloodshed." 

It  is  all-important,  never  more  so  than  now,  that  the 
people  should  magnify  the  law.  Whatever  lessens  respect 
for  its  authority  bodes  evil  and  only  evil  to  the  State.  No 
occasion  could  arise  more  appropriate  than  this  in  which  to 
utter  solemn  words  of  warning  against  an  evil  of  greater 
menace  to  the  public  weal  than  aught  to  be  apprehended 
from  foreign  foe.  In  many  localities  a  spirit  of  lawlessness 
has  asserted  itself  in  its  most  hideous  form.  The  rule  of  the 
mob  has  at  times  usurped  that  of  the  law.  Outrages  have 
been  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  summary  justice,  appalling 
to  all  thoughtful  men.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  all  this  is 
in  total  disregard  of  individual  rights,  and  utterly  subversive 
of  all  lawful  authority. 

By  the  solemn  adjudication  of  courts,  and  under  the 
safeguards  of  law,  the  fact  of  guilt  is  to  be  established,  and 


ON   THE   CIRCUIT  11 

the  guilty  punished.  The  spirit  of  the  mob  is  in  deadly 
antagonism  to  all  constituted  authority.  Unless  curbed 
it  will  sap  the  foundation  of  civilized  society.  Lynching  a 
human  creature  is  no  less  murder  when  the  act  of  a  mob 
than  when  that  of  a  single  individual.  There  is  no  safety  to 
society  but  in  an  aroused  public  sentiment  that  will  hold 
each  participant  amenable  to  the  law  for  the  consequences 
of  the  crime  he  either  perpetrates  or  abets.  This  is  the  land 
of  liberty,  "of  the  largest  liberty/'  but  let  it  never  be  forgotten 
that  it  is  liberty  regulated  by  law.  Let  him  be  accounted 
a  public  enemy  who  would  weaken  the  bonds  of  human 
society,  and  destroy  what  it  has  cost  our  race  the  sacrifice 
and  toil  of  centuries  to  achieve. 

The  sure  rock  of  defence  in  the  outstretched  years  as  in 
the  long  past,  will  be  the  intelligence,  the  patriotism,  the 
virtue  of  a  law-abiding,  liberty-loving  people.  To  a  degree 
that  cannot  be  measured  by  words,  the  temple  of  justice  will 
prove  the  city  of  refuge.  "The  judiciary  has  no  guards, 
no  palaces,  or  treasuries;  no  arms  but  truth  and  wisdom; 
and  no  splendor  but  justice." 


SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  13 

great  debate  recalled  vividly  that  of  Webster  and  Hayne,  in 
the  other  wing  of  the  Capitol,  almost  half  a  century  before. 

This  session  also  witnessed  the  impeachment  of  a  Cabinet 
officer,  General  Belknap,  Secretary  of  War.  The  trial  occurred 
before  the  Senate,  sitting  as  a  court  of  impeachment  during 
the  closing  weeks  of  the  session,  and  resulted  in  his  acquittal, 
less  than  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  voting  for  conviction. 
General  Belknap  was  represented  by  an  able  array  of  counsel, 
chief  of  whom  were  Judge  Black  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Hon. 
Matthew  H.  Carpenter  of  Wisconsin.  Mr.  Knott  of  Kentucky, 
Mr.  Hoar  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Lord  of  New  York,  con 
ducted  the  prosecution  in  the  main  as  managers  on  the  part 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  principal  contention 
on  the  part  of  the  counsel  for  the  accused  was  that  there  could 
be  no  conviction,  inasmuch  as  Belknap  had  resigned  his  office 
before  the  articles  of  impeachment  had  been  preferred.  This 
view  seems  to  have  been  decisive  of  the  final  vote  of  many 
Senators,  and  the  accused  stood  acquitted  at  the  bar  of  the 
Senate. 

When  the  second  session  of  this  Congress  convened,  in 
December,  1876,  the  excitement  throughout  the  country  was 
intense  over  the  pending  Presidential  contest  between  Hayes 
and  Tilden.  As  will  be  remembered,  the  electoral  vote  of 
two  States,  Louisiana  and  Florida,  was  claimed  by  each  of 
the  candidates.  These  votes  were  decisive  of  the  result. 
As  the  days  passed  and  the  time  approached  for  the  joint 
session  of  the  Senate  and  the  House,  for  the  purpose  of  count 
ing  the  electoral  votes  and  declaring  the  result,  the  tension 
became  greater,  and  partisan  feeling  more  intense.  The 
friends  of  Hayes  were  in  the  majority  in  the  Senate;  those  of 
Tilden,  in  the  House.  With  conflicting  certificates,  both 
purporting  to  give  the  correct  vote  from  each  of  the  States 
named,  and  no  lawful  authority  existing  to  determine  as  to 
their  validity,  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  the  situation  was 
one  to  arouse  the  grave  apprehension  of  all  thoughtful  men. 
The  condition  was  without  a  precedent  in  our  history.  Twice 
had  there  been  a  failure  to  elect  a  President  by  the  people, 
and  by  constitutional  provision  the  election  in  each  instance 


14  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

devolved  upon  the  House.  In  the  first- mentioned  case,  in 
1801,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  chosen;  and  in  the  latter,  in  1825,  Mr. 
John  Quincy  Adams.  In  neither  of  the  cases  just  mention 
ed  had  there  been  a  question  as  to  how  any  State  had  voted. 
It  was  simply  that  no  person  had  received  a  majority  of  all 
of  the  electoral  votes  cast.  The  method  of  settlement  was 
clearly  pointed  out  by  the  Constitution.  As  already  indicated, 
the  case  was  wholly  different  in  the  Hayes-Tilden  contro 
versy.  The  question  then  was  as  to  how  certain  States  had 
voted.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  this  fact  and 
certifying  the  same  to  the  joint  session  of  the  Senate  and 
House,  that  the  Electoral  Commission  was  constituted.  The 
bill  having  this  end  in  view  originated  in  the  House  in  Jan 
uary,  1877;  the  Commission  was  constituted,  and  the  con 
troverted  questions  were  soon  thereafter  determined. 

The  Electoral  Commission  was  an  imperative  necessity. 
As  such  it  was  created,  —  consisting  of  five  members  each, 
from  the  Senate,  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the 
Supreme  Court.  Its  decisions  were  adverse  to  Mr.  Tilden 
from  the  beginning,  and  resulted  in  the  finding  that  all  the 
disputed  votes  should  be  counted  for  his  opponent.  This,  it 
will  be  remembered,  gave  Hayes  a  majority  of  one  on  the 
final  count,  and  resulted  in  his  induction  into  office.  Par 
tisan  feeling  was  at  its  height,  and  the  question  of  the  justice 
of  the  decision  of  the  Electoral  Commission  was  vehemently 
discussed. 

To  the  end  that  there  might  be  a  peaceful  determination 
of  the  perilous  question,  that  of  disputed  succession  to  the 
Presidency,  I  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  bill  creating 
the  Commission.  Upon  the  question  of  concurrence  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  final  determination  of  the 
Commission,  bitter  opposition  was  manifested  upon  the  part 
of  friends  of  Mr.  Tilden,  and  a  heated  partisan  debate  resulted, 
and  during  this  debate  I  spoke  as  follows: 

"When  this  Congress  assembled  in  December,  it  wit 
nessed  the  American  people  from  one  end  of  the  country 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  15 

to  the  other  divided  upon  the  question  as  to  which  candi 
date  had  been  lawfully  elected  to  the  high  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States.  The  business  industries  of  the  coun 
try  were  paralyzed,  public  confidence  destroyed,  and  the 
danger  of  civil  war  was  imminent.  That  Mr.  Tilden  had 
received  a  majority  of  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  of 
the  popular  vote  was  not  disputed.  That  he  had  secured  a 
majority  of  the  Presidential  electors  in  the  several  States, 
and  was  lawfully  entitled  to  be  inducted  into  the  great  office, 
was  the  firm  belief  of  fully  one-half  of  the  people  of  this 
country.  The  hour  was  one  of  great  peril  to  our  institutions, 
and  many  were  apprehensive  that  we  were  but  entering  into 
the  dark  night  of  anarchy  and  confusion.  After  many  weeks 
of  angry  discussion,  which  resulted  in  still  further  arousing 
the  passions  of  the  people,  a  measure  of  adjustment  was  pro 
posed.  It  was  believed  that  there  was  still  patriotism  enough 
left  in  the  American  Congress  to  secure  an  honorable  and  fair 
settlement  of  this  most  dangerous  question.  We  all  recall 
how  our  hopes  revived,  and  how  gladly  we  hailed  the  intro 
duction  of  the  bill  recommended  by  a  joint  committee  of  con 
ference  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  It  was 
welcomed  as  the  harbinger  of  peace  by  the  entire  people 
of  our  country. 

"I  gave  that  bill  my  earnest  support.  It  had  in  the 
House  no  friend  more  ardent  in  its  advocacy  than  myself.  I 
believed  it  to  be  a  measure  in  the  interest  of  peace.  I 
believed  that  those  who  framed  it,  as  well  as  those  who 
gave  it  their  support  upon  the  floor,  were  honest  in  their 
statements,  that  no  man  could  afford  to  take  the  Presi 
dency  with  a  clouded  title,  and  that  the  object  of  the  bill  was 
to  ascertain  which  of  the  candidates  was  lawfully  entitled  to 
the  electoral  votes  of  Florida  and  Louisiana.  I  never  mis 
trusted  for  a  moment  that  statesmen  of  high  repute  could  in 
so  perilous  an  hour,  upon  so  grave  a  question,  palter  with 
words  in  a  double  sense. 

"  We  who  are  the  actors  in  this  drama  know,  and  history 
will  record  the  fact,  that  the  Conference  Bill  became  a  law, 
and  the  Electoral  Commission  was  organized,  not  for  the  pur- 


1«  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

pose  of  ascertaining  which  candidate  had  prima  facie  a  ma 
jority  of  the  electoral  votes;  not  for  the  purpose  of  ascertain 
ing  that  the  Governor  of  Florida,  and  the  de  facto  Governor 
of  Louisiana,  had  given  certificates  to  the  Hayes  electors. 
It  was  never  dreamed  that  a  tribunal,  consisting  in  part  of 
five  judges  of  the  highest  court  upon  earth,  was  to  be  con 
stituted,  whose  sole  duty  was  to  report  a  fact  known  to  every 
man  in  the  land,  that  the  returning-board  of  Louisiana  had 
given  the  votes  of  that  State  to  the  Hayes  electors.  The 
avowed  object  of  that  bill  was  to  ascertain  which  candidate 
had  received  a  majority  of  the  legal  votes  of  those  States. 
The  avowed  object  of  the  bill  was  to  secure  the  ends  of 
justice;  to  see  that  the  will  of  the  people  was  executed; 
that  the  Republic  suffered  no  harm;  to  see  that  the  title  to 
this  great  office  was  not  tainted  with  fraud.  How  well  the 
members  of  this  tribunal  have  discharged  the  sacred  trust 
committed  to  them,  let  them  answer  to  history. 

"  The  record  will  stand  that  this  tribunal  shut  its  eyes  to 
the  light  of  truth;  refused  to  hear  the  undisputed  proof  that 
a  majority  of  seven  thousand  legal  votes  in  the  State  of  Louis 
iana  for  Tilden  was  by  a  fraudulent  returning-board  changed 
to  eight  thousand  majority  for  Hayes.  The  Republican 
Representative  from  Florida,  Mr.  Purman,  has  solemnly 
declared  upon  this  floor  that  Florida  had  given  its  vote  to 
Tilden.  I  am  not  surprised  that  two  distinguished  Republi 
can  Representatives  from  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Seelye  and  Mr. 
Pierce,  have  in  such  thrilling  tones  expressed  their  dissent 
from  the  judgment  of  this  tribunal.  By  this  decision  fraud 
has  become  one  of  the  legalized  modes  of  securing  the  vote 
of  a  State.  Can  it  be  possible  that  the  American  people  are 
prepared  to  accept  the  doctrine  that  fraud,  which  vitiates 
all  contracts  and  agreements,  which  taints  the  judgments  and 
decrees  of  courts,  which  will  even  annul  the  solemn  covenant 
of  marriage  —  fraud,  which  poisons  wherever  it  enters  — 
can  be  inquired  into  in  all  the  relations  of  human  life  save 
only  where  a  returning-board  is  its  instrument,  and  the 
dearest  rights  of  a  sovereign  people  are  at  stake? 

"  But  we  are  told  that  we  created  this  tribunal  and  must 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  17 

abide  its  arbitrament.  I  propose  to  do  so  in  good  faith.  I 
have,  from  the  beginning,  opposed  every  movement  that 
looked  only  to  delay.  I  have  voted  against  all  dilatory 
motions.  But  the  decision  of  this  tribunal  is  too  startling 
and  too  far-reaching  in  its  consequences  to  pass  unchallenged. 
That  the  returning-board  of  Louisiana  will  find  no  imitators 
in  our  future  history  is  more  than  I  dare  hope.  The  per 
nicious  doctrine  that  fraud  and  perjury  are  to  be  recognized 
auxiliaries  in  popular  elections  is  one  that  may  return  to 
plague  its  inventors.  The  worst  effect  of  this  decision  will 
be  its  lesson  to  the  young  men  of  our  country.  Hereafter 
old-fashioned  honesty  is  at  a  discount,  and  villainy  and  fraud 
the  legalized  instruments  of  success.  The  fact  may  be  con 
ceded,  the  proof  overwhelming,  that  the  honest  voice  of  a 
State  has  been  overthrown  by  outrage  and  fraud,  and  yet 
the  chosen  tribunal  of  the  people  has  entered  of  solemn  record 
that  there  is  no  remedy. 

*O  Judgment,  thou  art  fled  to  brutish  beasts!' 

"  My  criticism  of  the  decision  of  this  tribunal  rests  upon 
its  finding  in  the  cases  of  Louisiana  and  Florida;  upon  the 
Oregon  case  I  have  no  criticism  to  offer.  It  is  true  that  but 
two  votes  of  that  State  could  have  been  given  to  Hayes  had 
the  decision  first  adopted  by  the  Commission  been  followed 
in  the  case  of  Oregon.  However  inconsistent  it  may  be  with 
other  rulings  of  the  Commission,  standing  alone  it  is  in  the 
main  correct.  The  sanctity  of  seal  of  State  and  certificate 
of  Governor  applied  only  to  Louisiana  and  Florida;  the 
Governor  of  Oregon  was  not  of  the  household  of  the  faithful. 

"  The  people  of  Oregon  cast  a  majority  of  their  votes  for 
Hayes,  and  no  vote  or  act  of  mine  shall  stand  in  the  way  of 
its  being  so  recorded.  Such  have  been  my  convictions  from 
the  beginning,  and  the  great  wrong  done  in  Louisiana  and 
Florida  cannot  warp  my  convictions  at  this  hour. 

"  We  have  now  reached  the  final  act  in  this  great  drama, 
and  the  record  here  made  will  pass  into  history.  Time,  the 
great  healer,  will  bring  a  balm  to  those  who  feel  sick  at  heart 
because  of  this  erievous  wrong.  But  who  can  estimate, 


18  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

what  seer  can  foretell,  the  evils  that  may  result  to  us  and  our 
children  from  this  judgment?  Fortunate,  indeed,  will  it  be 
for  this  country  if  our  people  lose  not  faith  in  popular  insti 
tutions;  fortunate,  indeed,  if  they  abate  not  their  confidence 
in  the  integrity  of  that  high  tribunal,  for  a  century  the  bul 
wark  of  our  liberties.  In  all  times  of  popular  commotion 
and  peril,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  been 
looked  to  as  the  final  arbiter,  its  decrees  heeded  as  the  voice 
of  God.  How  disastrous  may  be  the  result  of  decisions  so 
manifestly  partisan,  I  will  not  attempt  to  forecast. 

"  Let  this  vote  be  now  taken  and  the  curtain  fall  upon 
these  scenes  forever.  To  those  who  believe,  as  I  do,  that  a 
grievous  wrong  has  been  suffered,  let  me  entreat  that  this 
arbitrament  be  abided  in  good  faith,  that  no  hindrance  or 
delay  be  interposed  to  the  execution  of  the  law,  but  that  by 
faithful  adherence  to  its  mandates,  by  honest  efforts  to  revive 
the  prostrate  industries  of  the  country,  by  obedience  to  the 
constituted  authorities,  we  will  show  ourselves  patriots  rather 
than  partisans  in  this  hour  of  our  country's  misfortune." 

Some  mention  will  now  be  made  of  prominent  members 
of  the  House  during  this  Congress.  The  Hon.  Michael  C. 
Kerr  of  Indiana  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House.  The  vote 
of  the  Republican  minority  was  given  to  the  Hon.  James  G. 
Elaine,  who  had  been  Speaker  during  the  three  Congresses 
immediately  preceding.  Mr.  Kerr  was  a  gentleman  of  high 
character  and  well  recognized  ability.  He  had  been  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  House,  and  was  familiar  with  the  de 
tails  of  its  business.  He  was  in  failing  health  at  the  time  of 
his  election,  and  died  before  the  close  of  the  first  session  of 
that  Congress.  He  was  physically  unable  to  preside  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  session,  and  was  frequently  relieved 
from  the  onerous  duties  of  the  Chair  by  two  new  members 
who  were  yet  to  achieve  distinction  in  that  body,  Mr. 
Blackburn  of  Kentucky  and  Mr.  Springer  of  Illinois.' 

Mr.  Elaine,  the  leader  of  the  minority,  had  been  for  twelve 
years  a  member  of  the  House,  having  been  first  elected  at 
the  age  of  thirty-three.  He  was  a  brilliant  debater,  well 


JAMES   G.  ELAINE 


ROBERT  E.WILLIAMS 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  19 

versed  in  parliamentary  law,  and  at  all  points  fully  equipped 
for  the  conflict.  With  the  exception  of  Henry  Clay,  the 
House  of  Representatives  has  probably  never  known  his 
equal  as  a  party  leader.  That  he  possessed  a  touch  of  humor 
will  appear  from  the  following.  While  the  discussion  was  at 
its  height  upon  his  amendment  excluding  Jefferson  Davis 
from  the  benefit  of  the  General  Amnesty  Bill,  Mr.  Elaine, 
looking  across  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  Chamber,  said:  "I 
confess  to  a  feeling  of  commiseration  for  some  gentlemen 
upon  the  other  side,  who  represent  close  districts.  Sur 
rounded  by  their  Southern  associates  here,  and  with  intense 
Union  consituencies  at  home,  their  apprehension,  as  they 
are  called  to  vote  upon  this  amendment,  is  indeed  deplor 
able.  It  reminds  me  of  a  Hibernian  procession  I  once  saw 
moving  down  Broadway,  where  the  serious  question  was  how 
to  keep  step  to  the  music,  and  at  the  same  time  to  dodge 
the  omnibuses!" 

My  seat  was  just  across  the  aisle  from  that  of  Mr.  Blaine. 
When  introduced,  I  handed  him  letters  of  introduction  from 
two  of  his  college  classmates,  the  Hon.  Robert  E.  Williams 
and  the  Rev.  John  Y.  Calhoun.  After  reading  the  letters 
and  speaking  most  kindly  of  his  old  Washington  College 
classmates,  he  brusquely  inquired,  "What  are  John  Y. 
Calhoun's  politics?" 

I  answered,  "He  is  a  Democrat." 

Blaine  instantly  replied,  "Well,  how  strangely  things  do 
come  around  in  this  world!  When  we  were  in  college  to 
gether,  Calhoun  was  the  strongest  kind  of  a  Presbyterian." 

I  intimated  that  his  sometime  classmate  was  still  of  that 
eminently  respectable  persuasion.  The  reply  was,  in  manner 
indicating  apparent  surprise,  "Is  it  possible  that  out  in  your 
country  a  man  can  be  a  Presbyterian  and  a  Democrat  at 
the  same  time?" 

I  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  to  West  Point 
in  June,  1877.  Mr.  Blaine  and  Bishop  Quintard  of  Tennessee 
were  also  members.  General  Hancock  was  with  our  Board 
for  some  days  at  the  little  West  Point  Inn,  and  delivered  the 
address  to  the  graduating  class  of  cadets.  He  was  then  in 


30  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

excellent  health,  and  as  superb  in  appearance  as  he  had  been 
courageous  in  battle.  I  have  never  heard  more  brilliant  con 
versation  than  that  at  our  table,  in  which  the  chief  partici 
pants  were  Gail  Hamilton,  Bishop  Quintard,  General  Hancock, 
Senator  Maxey,  and  Mr.  Elaine.  The  last  named,  "upon  the 
plain  highway  of  talk,"  was  unrivalled. 

While  the  Board  was  in  session,  Mr.  Blaine  and  I  spent 
some  hours  with  the  Hon.  Hamilton  Fish,  late  Secretary  of 
State,  at  his  country  home  near  West  Point.  Near  by  was 
still  standing  the  historic  Beverly  Robinson  House,  the  home 
of  Benedict  Arnold  when  he  was  in  command  of  the  Colonial 
forces  at  West  Point.  As  we  passed  through  the  quaint  old 
mansion,  Mr.  Blaine,  whose  knowledge  of  our  Revolutionary 
history  was  all-embracing,  described  graphically  the  con 
ditions  existing  at  the  time  of  Arnold's  treason,  and  just 
where  each  person  sat  at  the  breakfast  table  in  the  old 
dining-room  in  which  we  were  then  standing,  on  the  fateful 
morning  when  the  courier  from  the  British  camp  hurriedly 
announced  to  General  Arnold  the  capture  of  Major  Andre*. 

Mr.  Blaine  and  I  were  once  passing  along  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  when  he  remarked  that  the 
old  building  just  to  our  right  had  once  been  a  high-toned  gam 
bling  house;  that  there  were  traditions  to  the  effect  that  even 
some  well-known  statesmen  were  not  wholly  unadvised  as 
to  its  exact  location  and  uses.  He  then  told  me  that  during 
his  first  term  in  Congress  he  was  early  one  morning  passing 
this  building  on  his  way  to  the  Capitol.  Just  as  he  reached 
the  spot  where  we  were  then  standing,  the  Hon.  Thaddeus 
Stevens  came  down  the  steps  of  the  building  mentioned,  and, 
immediately  after  his  cordial  greeting  to  Mr.  Blaine,  was 
accosted  by  a  negro  preacher,  who  earnestly  requested  a 
contribution  toward  the  building  of  a  church  for  his  people. 
Promptly  taking  a  roll  from  his  vest  pocket,  Mr.  Stevens 
handed  the  negro  a  fifty-dollar  bill,  and  turning  to  Blaine, 
solemnly  observed, 

"  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform!" 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  SI 

At  the  time  first  mentioned,  Mr.  Blaine  was  in  excellent 
health,  buoyant  in  spirits,  aggressive  to  the  last  degree,  and 
full  of  hope  as  to  the  future.  The  disappointments  and 
bereavements  that  saddened  the  closing  years  of  his  life 
had  as  yet  cast  no  shadow  upon  his  pathway. 

Next  in  leadership  to  Mr.  Blaine,  upon  the  Republican 
side,  was  the  Hon.  James  A.  Garfield.  He  possessed  few  of 
the  qualities  of  brilliant  leadership  so  eminently  character 
istic  of  Blaine,  but  was  withal  one  of  the  ablest  men  I  have 
ever  known.  Gifted  with  rare  powers  of  oratory,  with  an 
apparently  inexhaustible  reservoir  of  information  at  his 
command,  he  knew  no  superior  in  debate.  At  one  period 
of  his  life  he  was  the  recipient  of  public  honors  without  a 
parallel  in  our  history.  While  yet  a  Representative  in  Con 
gress,  he  was  a  Senator-elect  from  Ohio,  and  the  President 
elect  of  the  United  States.  For  once,  it  indeed  seemed  that 
"fortune  had  come  with  both  hands  full."  In  the  words  of 
the  Persian  poet,  "he  had  obtained  an  ear  of  corn  from 
every  harvest."  And  yet,  a  few  months  later,  in  the  words 
of  his  great  eulogist,  "The  stately  mansion  of  power  had 
become  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and  he  begged 
to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from  its  oppressive,  stifling 
air,  from  its  homelessness  and  its  hopelessness." 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Garfield  began  early 
in  January,  1876,  when  we  were  members  of  the  House 
Committee  appointed  by  the  Speaker  to  convey  the  re 
mains  of  a  deceased  member  to  his  late  home,  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  for  burial.  Another  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  was  Representative  Wheeler  of  New  York.  It  was 
late  Saturday  afternoon  when  we  were  conveyed  by  car 
riages  from  the  crossing  at  Jersey  City  to  the  depot  where 
the  Norwich  train  was  in  waiting.  Our  route  lay  for  some 
distance  along  Broadway,  through  the  very  heart  of  the 
great  metropolis.  As  we  passed  the  hurrying  throngs  that 
crowded  the  great  thoroughfare  that  sombre  winter  evening, 
Mr.  Garfield  remarked  that  it  was  a  scene  similar  to  the  one 
we  were  then  witnessing  that  suggested  to  Mr.  Bryant  one 
of  the  most  stirring  of  his  shorter  poems. 


22  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

At  our  request  and  in  tones  that  linger  even  yet  in  my 
memory,  he  then  repeated  these  lines: 

"Let  me  move  slowly  through  the  street 

Filled  with  an  ever  shifting  train, 
Amid  the  sound  of  steps  that  beat 
The  murmuring  walks  like  autumn  rain. 

How  fast  the  flitting  figures  come, 
The  mild,  the  fierce,  the  stony  face; 

Some  bright  with  thoughtless  smiles,  and  some 
Where  secret  tears  have  left  their  trace ! 

They  pass  to  toil,  to  strife,  to  rest, 
To  halls  in  which  the  feast  is  spread, 

To  chambers  where  the  funeral  guest 
In  silence  sits  beside  the  dead. 

Each  where  his  tasks  or  pleasures  call 
They  pass,  and  heed  each  other  not. 

There  is  Who  heeds,  Who  holds  them  all 
In  His  large  love,  and  boundless  thought. 

These  struggling  tides  of  life  that  seem 
In  wayward,  aimless  course  to  tend, 

Are  eddies  of  the  mighty  stream 
That  rolls  to  its  appointed  end." 

Norwich,  the  home  of  the  deceased  member,  Mr.  Stark 
weather,  and  where  he  was  laid  to  rest,  is  a  beautiful  city  and 
one  of  much  historic  interest.  It  was  here  that  Benedict 
Arnold  was  born,  and  the  ruins  of  his  early  home  were 
still  to  be  seen.  Of  greater  interest  was  a  monument  stand 
ing  in  an  old  Indian  burying-ground  near  the  centre  of  the 
city,  —  "  Erected  to  the  Memory  of  Uncas."  It  was  within 
the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant  that  the  President  of 
the  United  States  and  his  Cabinet  were  in  attendance  at  the 
dedication  of  this  monument,  and  deeply  interested  in  the 
impressive  ceremonies  in  honor  of  "  the  last  of  the  Mohicans." 

An  exceedingly  courteous  gentleman  upon  the  same  side 
of  the  chamber  was  the  Hon.  Nathaniel  P.  Banks  of  Massa 
chusetts.  He  had  been  a  Major-general  during  the  late  war, 
and  was  an  ex-Governor  of  his  State.  He  first  achieved 
national  distinction  in  the  thirty-fourth  Congress,  when, 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD 


NATH.  P.  BANKS 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  23 

after  a  protracted  and  exciting  struggle,  he  was  elected  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  the  body  over  which  he 
had  so  ably  presided  in  ante-bellum  days,  he  had  again  taken 
his  seat.  While  by  no  means  taking  the  highest  rank  as  a 
debater,  he  was  familiar  with  the  complicated  rules  governing 
the  House,  and  his  opinion  challenged  the  highest  respect. 
He  and  Mr.  Elaine  were  the  only  members  of  that  House 
who  had  previously  held  the  position  of  Speaker. 

Near  General  Banks  sat  the  Hon.  William  D.  Kelley  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  had  known  many  years  of  legislative 
service,  and  was  long  "the  father  of  the  House."  One  of  the 
features  of  its  successive  organization,  as  many  old  members 
will  recall,  was  the  administration  of  the  official  oath  to  the 
Speaker-elect  by  the  member  who  had  known  the  longest 
continuous  service  —  "the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania." 
When  in  the  fulness  of  time  he  passed  to  "the  house  not 
made  with  hands,"  his  mantle  fell  upon  Judge  Holman 
of  Indiana. 

The  House  probably  contained  no  member  of  rarer  attain 
ments  in  scholarship  than  Julius  H.  Seelye  of  Massachusetts. 
He  stood  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  great  educators  of  his  day, 
and  was  President  of  Amherst  College  during  the  latter  years 
of  his  life.  His  political  service  was  limited  to  one  term  in 
Congress.  His  speech  near  its  beginning  upon  the  General 
Amnesty  Bill  challenged  the  profound  attention  of  the 
House,  and  at  once  gave  him  honored  place  in  its  mem 
bership. 

The  Congressional  career  of  the  Hon.  George  W.  Mc- 
Crary,  of  Iowa,  terminated  with  this  Congress.  He  was 
recognized  as  one  qf  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the  House,  and  was 
one  of  its  most  agreeable  and  courteous  members.  During 
the  presidency  of  Hayes  he  held  the  position  of  Secretary  of 
War,  and  was  later  a  Judge  of  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court. 

The  Hon.  Joseph  G.  Cannon  of  Illinois,  the  present 
Speaker,  was  just  at  the  beginning  of  his  long  Congressional 
career.  For  many  years  he  has  been  an  active  leader  of  the 
House  and  a  prominent  participant  in  its  important  debates. 


*4  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

His  characteristic  patience  and  long-suffering  courtesy  have 
no  doubt  at  times  been  sorely  tried  by  attempts  to  enlarge 
the  sum  total  of  appropriation  bills  reported  by  the  Committee 
of  which  he  was  chairman.  To  the  important  post  of  " watch 
dog  of  the  Treasury"  he  was,  nem.  con.,  the  successor  to  the 
lamented  Holman.  In  this  connection  a  suggestive  incident 
is  recalled.  One  of  the  guides  of  the  Capitol,  when  some 
years  ago  showing  a  visitor  through  the  Vice-President's 
chamber,  called  attention  to  a  little  old-fashioned  mirror 
upon  its  walls.  The  guide  explained  that  this  mirror  was 
purchased  at  a  cost  of  thirty  dollars  when  John  Adams  was 
Vice-President,  but  when  the  bill  for  its  payment  was  before 
the  House,  Mr.  Holman  objected.  A  Western  member,  who 
had  just  been  defeated  upon  a  proposed  amendment  to  an 
appropriation  bill,  by  reason  of  a  fatal  point  of  order  raised 
by  the  chairman,  promptly  exclaimed,  "I  move  to  strike 
out  Holman  and  insert  Cannon." 

The  sagacity  and  untiring  industry  of  Mr.  Cannon  have 
elevated  him  to  the  Speakership,  and  possibly  yet  higher 
honors  await  him.  It  is  a  significant  fact  in  this  connection, 
however,  that  notwithstanding  the  brilliant  array  of  ambi 
tious  statesmen  who  have  held  the  Speakership  for  more 
than  a  century,  only  one,  Mr.  Polk,  has  ever  reached  the 
Presidency. 

The  forty-fourth  Congress  was  the  last  of  which  the  Hon. 
William  A.  Wheeler  of  New  York  was  a  member.  He  was 
elected  Vice-president  in  1876,  and  the  duties  of  that  office 
have  rarely  been  discharged  by  an  abler  or  more  courteous 
officer.  He  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  associates  during  his 
long  service  in  the  House.  His  principle  in  action  seemed 
ever  to  be,  "  there  is  nothing  so  kingly  as  kindness." 

Messrs.  Hale  and  Frye  of  Maine,  Aldrich  of  Rhode 
Island,  Money  of  Mississippi,  Taylor  of  Tennessee,  and 
Elkins  of  West  Virginia,  were  members  of  this  House;  all  of 
whom  are  now  Senators  of  marked  ability,  and  well  known 
to  the  entire  country. 

A  member  of  this  House,  who  at  a  later  date,  and  in  the 
other  wing  of  the  Capitol,  achieved  yet  greater  distinction, 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  25 

was  the  Hon.  George  F.  Hoar  of  Massachusetts.  At  the  close 
of  this  Congress  he  was  transferred  to  the  Senate,  where  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  was  a  prominent  leader. 
His  ability  and  attainments  were  of  the  highest,  and  he  was 
the  worthy  successor  of  Webster  in  the  great  body  of  which 
he  was  so  long  an  honored  member. 

In  addition  to  more  solid  qualities,  Mr.  Hoar  was  gifted 
with  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  as  will  appear  from  one  or  two 
incidents  to  be  mentioned.  In  the  House  Mr.  Springer,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  reconsideration  of  resolutions  and  debate 
thereupon  under  the  rules,  had  frequently  cut  off  the  possi 
bility  of  such  debate  by  the  timely  interposition  of  the  words, 
"Not  to  be  brought  back  on  a  motion  to  reconsider."  Now, 
it  so  fell  out  that  upon  a  certain  day  Mr.  Springer  received 
a  telegram  calling  him  home  just  as  the  roll-call  was  ordered 
upon  an  important  bill.  Earnestly  desiring  to  vote  — 
which  owing  to  the  early  departure  of  his  train  was  impossible 
if  he  waited  until  his  name  was  regularly  reached  upon  the 
roll  —  he  moved  to  the  front  of  the  Speaker  and,  after  brief 
explanation,  asked  unanimous  consent  to  vote  at  once.  Per 
mission  was  of  course  granted,  his  name  at  once  called,  and 
his  vote  given.  Grateful  for  the  courtesy,  he  bowed  repeatedly 
to  each  side  of  the  Chamber,  and,  hurrying  up  the  aisle,  was 
about  to  take  his  exit,  when  Mr.  Hoar,  pointing  his  finger 
at  the  retreating  figure,  solemnly  exclaimed,  "Not  to  be 
brought  back  upon  a  motion  to  reconsider!" 

At  a  much  later  day  the  Senate  was  "advising  and  con 
senting"  over  the  appointment  of  a  distinguished  gentleman 
whose  name  had  just  been  sent  in  for  confirmation  as  Am 
bassador  to  an  important  European  Court.  The  gentleman 
in  question  had  voted  for  the  then  incumbent  of  the  great 
office,  but  his  former  political  affiliations  had  been  wholly 
with  the  opposing  party.  The  nomination  was  about  being 
confirmed  without  objection  when  Mr.  Hoar,  arising  with 
apparent  reluctance,  said: 

"  As  this  is  in  some  measure  a  family  affair,  Mr.  President, 
I  hesitate  to  interfere.  If  our  friends  upon  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Chamber  are  satisfied  with  this  appointment,  I  certainly 


26  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

shall  interpose  no  objection.  The  gentleman  named  is  well 
qualified,  and  has  more  than  once  held  high  place  at  the  hands 
of  the  party  which  he  has  but  recently  deserted,  and  to  which 
he  will  no  doubt  return  in  due  time.  We  have,  however,  in 
New  England  an  old-time  custom,  as  sacred  as  if  part  of  the 
written  law,  that  if  a  man  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  lose  his  com 
panion  he  will  not  marry  again  within  one  year.  Now  sir,  I 
have  always  thought  this  rule,  as  to  time,  might  well  be  applied 
to  the  matter  of  office-seeking.  Where  a  man  has  been  repeat 
edly  honored  by  his  party  as  this  appointee  has  been,  but  where, 
prompted  by  motives  purely  unseliish  no  doubt,  he  has  gone 
over  to  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  I  think  a  due  sense  of  modesty 
should  impel  him  to  serve  in  the  ranks  at  least  one  year  before 
being  an  applicant  for  high  office  at  the  hands  of  his  newly 
found  friends." 

Crossing  over  now  to  the  Democratic  side  of  the  Chamber, 
well  to  its  front  sat  the  Hon.  William  R.  Morrison  of  Illinois. 
By  virtue  of  his  position  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  he  was  the  traditional  leader  of  the  House. 
Possessing  little  of  the  brilliancy  of  the  leader  of  the  minority, 
Colonel  Morrison  was  none  the  less  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
useful  members  of  that  body.  He  had  for  many  sessions 
been  a  member  of  the  House,  and  had  been  a  soldier  in  the 
Mexican  and  in  the  Civil  War.  His  record  was  honorable 
both  as  soldier  and  legislator.  He  was  the  author  of  the 
Tariff  Bill  which  was  fully  debated  during  the  first  session  of 
that  Congress,  and  was  in  some  measure  a  determining  factor 
in  the  Presidential  campaign  that  soon  followed.  At  a  later 
day,  Colonel  Morrison  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  nomi 
nation  as  President  by  the  national  convention  of  his  party. 
His  personal  friendships  and  antagonisms  were  well  known. 
It  is  related  of  him  that  during  a  serious  illness,  apprehend 
ing  that  the  dread  messenger  was  in  near  waiting,  arousing 
himself  to  what  appeared  to  be  a  last  effort,  he  said  in  scarcely 
audible  tones  to  a  sorrowing  colleague  at  his  bedside:  "I 
suppose  when  this  is  all  over  they  will  have  something  to 
say  about  me,  as  is  the  custom,  in  the  House.  Well,  if 
Springer,  and  Cox,  and  Knott,  and  Stevenson  want  to  talk, 
let  them  go  ahead,  but  if  old  Spears  tries  to  speak  just 
cough  him  down" 


WILLIAM   R.  MORRISON 


WILLIAM   M.  SPRINGER 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  27 

Never  in  any  political  gathering  has  there  been  a  more 
effective  speech,  of  a  single  sentence,  than  that  in  which 
Colonel  Morrison  presented  to  the  Democratic  caucus  of 
the  House  members  the  name  of  the  " Blind  Preacher"  for 
Chaplain.  Three  or  four  candidates  were  already  in  nomi 
nation  when  Morrison  arose  and  said:  "Mr.  Chairman,  I 
present  for  the  office  of  Chaplain  of  the  House  the  name  of 
Doctor  Milburn,  a  man  who  loves  God,  pays  his  debts,  and 
votes  the  Democratic  ticket."  Before  the  applause  that 
followed  had  entirely  died  away  the  names  of  his  competitors 
were  withdrawn,  and  the  "  Blind  Preacher  "  was  nominated 
by  acclamation. 

The  Hon.  William  M.  Springer,  of  the  same  State,  had 
just  entered  upon  his  twenty  years  of  continuous  service  in 
the  House.  He  came  promptly  to  the  front  as  a  ready 
debater  and  skilful  parliamentarian.  He  was  thoroughly 
educated,  ambitious,  and  withal  an  excellent  speaker,  and 
was  the  possessor  in  full  measure  of  the  suaviter  in  modo. 
His  personal  popularity  was  great,  and  a  more  obliging,  agree 
able,  and  pleasing  associate  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
find.  He  was  optimistic  to  the  last  degree.  To  him  every 
cloud  had  a  silver  lining,  —  the  lining  generally  concealing 
the  cloud.  It  was  said  of  him  by  one  of  his  colleagues  that 
when  the  election  returns  were  coming  in,  showing  over 
whelming  defeat  to  his  party,  —  even  before  they  were  fully 
summed  up,  —  Mr.  Springer  with  beaming  countenance 
would  promptly  demonstrate  by  figures  of  his  own  how  we 
were  sure  to  be  victorious  four  years  later. 

The  Hon.  Carter  H.  Harrison  was  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Illinois  delegation.  He  soon  took  high  rank  as  an 
orator,  and  never  failed  to  command  the  attention  of  the 
House.  Few  speeches  delivered  during  that  session  of  Con 
gress  were  so  generally  published,  or  more  extensively  quoted 
than  were  those  of  Mr.  Harrison.  At  the  end  of  four  years' 
service  in  Congress  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Chicago,  an 
office  he  filled  most  acceptably  for  many  years.  His  tragic 
death,  upon  the  concluding  day  of  the  great  Exposition,  was 
universally  deplored  throughout  the  entire  country. 


*8  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

The  Hon.  John  H.  Reagan,  of  Texas,  was  a  Represen 
tative  in  Congress  before  the  war.  At  its  beginning  he  re 
signed  his  seat  in  the  House,  and  cast  hi  his  fortunes  with 
the  South.  He  was  early  selected  a  member  of  the  Davis 
Cabinet,  and  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  Postmaster- 
General  until  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy.  He  was  a  citizen 
of  Texas  while  it  was  yet  a  Republic,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  securing  its  admission  to  the  Federal  Union.  Judge 
Reagan  was  a  gentleman  of  recognized  ability,  and  of  exceed 
ingly  courteous  and  dignified  bearing. 

An  old-time  statesman,  on  the  same  side  of  the  Chamber, 
was  the  Hon.  Fernando  Wood  of  New  York.  A  generation 
had  passed  since  he  first  entered  Congress.  He  was  a  Repre 
sentative  in  the  old  hall  of  the  Capitol  while  Webster,  Calhoun, 
and  Clay  were  in  their  prime.  Erect,  stately,  faultless  in  his 
attire,  and  of  bearing  almost  chivalric,  Mr.  Wood  was  long 
one  of  the  active  and  picturesque  personages  of  the  House. 
At  the  time  whereof  we  write,  his  sands  were  almost  run, 
but,  courageous  to  the  last,  he  was  in  his  accustomed  seat 
but  a  little  time  before  the  final  summons  came,  and  he  died, 
as  was  his  wish,  with  the  harness  on.  All  in  all,  we  shall 
hardly  see  his  like  again. 

Surrounded  by  his  colleagues  near  the  centre  of  the  hall 
sat  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  day,  philosopher, 
jurist,  statesman,  orator,  Lucius  Q.  C.  Lamar  of  Mississippi. 
In  his  early  manhood  he  was  a  member  of  the  House,  and 
even  then  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the 
many  brilliant  men  his  section  had  sent  to  the  national 
councils.  During  the  war  his  services  in  field  and  council 
were  given  to  the  South,  and  something  less  than  a  decade 
after  the  return  of  peace,  Mr.  Lamar,  still  in  his  prime,  again 
took  his  seat  hi  the  hall  where  his  first  laurels  had  been  won. 
His  great  speech  —  one  that  touched  all  hearts  —  was  not 
long  delayed;  the  occasion  was  the  day  set  apart  in  the 
House  for  tributes  to  the  memory  of  the  lamented  Sumner. 
Many  eulogies  were  delivered;  that  of  Lamar  still  lingers  in 
the  memory  of  all  who  heard  it.  "The  theme  was  worthy 
the  orator;  the  orator,  the  theme."  As  a  splendid  tribute 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  29 

to  a  great  tribune,  as  a  plea  for  peace,  —  abiding,  eternal, 
between  all  sections  of  a  restored  union,  —  it  stands  unsur 
passed  among  the  great  masterpieces  of  ancient  or  modern 
eloquence. 

Later,  Mr.  Lamar  was  a  prominent  participant  in  one  of 
the  fiercest  debates  the  Senate  has  ever  known.  A  leading 
Senator  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  chamber,  in  advocat 
ing  the  passage  of  the  "  Force  Bill,"  reflected  bitterly  upon 
Mississippi  and  her  Senators.  In  replying  to  the  personal 
portion  of  the  speech,  Lamar  said,  "The  Senator  has  uttered 
upon  this  floor  a  falsehood  —  knowing  it  to  be  such.  The 
language  I  have  used,  Mr.  President,  is  severe.  It  was  so 
intended.  It  is  language,  sir,  that  no  honest  man  would 
deserve,  and  that  no  brave  man  will  ivear!" 

Mr.  Lamar  was  one  of  the  most  absent-minded  of  men. 
A  number  of  years  ago,  by  invitation  of  the  Faculty,  he  de 
livered  an  address  to  the  graduating  class  of  Centre  College, 
Kentucky.  The  day  was  quite  warm,  the  exercises  some 
what  protracted,  and,  at  the  close  of  his  able  and  eloquent 
address,  he  was  very  much  exhausted. 

An  excellent  collation,  prepared  by  the  ladies  connected 
with  the  College,  was  served  in  the  chapel  near  by,  at  the 
close  of  the  exercises.  Seated  upon  the  platform,  with  Mr. 
Lamar  at  the  head  of  the  table,  were  Doctor  Young,  the 
President,  Justice  Harlan,  Governor  Knott,  the  Rev.  Doc 
tor  Bullock,  Chaplain  of  the  Senate,  Judge  McCormick, 
and  others. 

At  the  plate  of  each  guest  a  large  tomato  was  in  readi 
ness  and,  excellent  itself,  was,  moreover,  the  earnest  of 
better  things  to  come.  Immediately  upon  being  seated, 
Mr.  Lamar  "fell  to"  and,  wholly  oblivious  of  the  surroundings, 
soon  made  way  with  the  one  viand  then  in  visible  presence. 
Just  as  its  last  vestige  disappeared,  the  President  of  the 
College  arose  and,  with  a  solemnity  eminently  befitting  the 
occasion,  called  upon  Doctor  Bullock  to  offer  thanks.  Deeply 
chagrined,  Mr.  Lamar  was  an  attentive  listener  to  the  im 
pressive  invocation  which  immediately  followed.  At  its 
conclusion,  with  troubled  countenance,  he  turned  to  Knott 


30  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  said,  "I  am  humiliated  at  my  conduct.  I  should  have 
remembered  that  Presbyterians  always  say  grace  before 
meals,  but  I  was  very  hungry  and  exhausted,  and  the  tomato 
very  tempting;  I  have  really  disgraced  myself."  To  which 
Knott  replied,  "You  ought  not  to  feel  so,  Mr.  Justice;  that 
blessing  of  Doctor  Bullock's  was  broad  and  general;  in  large 
measure  retrospective,  as  well  as  prospective.  It  reminds 
me  of  a  little  incident  that  occurred  on  the  ' Rolling  Fork.' 
An  old-time  deacon  down  there  was  noted  for  the  lengthy 
blessing  which  at  his  table  was  the  unfailing  prelude  to  every 
meal.  His  hired  man,  Bill  Taylor,  an  unconverted  and  im 
patient  youth,  had  fallen  into  the  evil  habit  of  commencing 
his  meal  before  the  blessing  thereon  had  been  fully  invoked. 
The  frown  and  rebuke  of  the  good  deacon  were  alike  unavail 
ing  in  effecting  the  desired  reform.  Righteously  indignant 
thereat,  the  deacon,  in  a  spirit  possibly  not  the  most  devout, 
at  length  gave  utterance  to  this  petition,  'For  what  we  are 
about  to  receive,  and  for  what  William  Taylor  has  already 
received,  accept  our  thanks,  0  Lord ! ' ' 

In  cheery  tones  the  great  orator  at  once  replied, 
"  Knott,  you  are  the  only  man  on  earth  who  could  have 
thought  of  such  a  story  just  at  the  opportune  moment."  The 
temporary  depression  vanished;  Lamar  was  himself  again, 
and  was  at  once  the  brilliant  conversationalist  of  the  de 
lighted  assemblage. 

The  surviving  members  of  that  Congress  will  recall  a 
little  chair  that  daily  rolled  down  the  aisle  to  the  front  of 
the  Speaker's  desk.  It  contained  the  emaciated  form  of  a 
man  whose  weight  at  his  best  was  but  ninety  pounds  — 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia,  "  whose  little  body  lodged 
a  mighty  mind."  No  one  who  saw  Mr.  Stephens  could  ever 
forget  him.  He  looked  as  though  he  had  just  stepped  out 
from  an  old  picture,  or  dropped  down  from  the  long-ago. 
There  was  probably  as  little  about  him  "of  the  earth,  earthy" 
as  of  any  mortal  this  world  has  known.  Upon  his  weak  frame 
time  had  done  its  work,  and,  true  it  is,  "the  surest  poison  is 
time."  And  yet,  his  feeble  piping  voice  —  now  scarcely 
heard  an  arm's  length  away  —  was  potent  in  the  contentions 


SAMUEL  J.  RANDALL 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS 


LUCIUS   Q.  C.  LAMAR 


JAMES  B.  BECK 


DAVID  DUDLEY  FIELD 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  31 

oi  the  great  hall  when  he  was  the  honored  associate  of  men 
whose  public  service  reached  back  to  the  formation  of  the 
Government.  In  the  old  hall  near  by  —  now  the  Valhalla 
of  the  nation  —  he  had  sat  with  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
contemporaries  whose  names  at  once  recall  the  Revolutionary 
period.  After  serving  as  Vice-President  of  the  Confederacy, 
whose  rise  and  fall  he  had  witnessed,  Mr.  Stephens,  with  the 
shadows  falling  about  him,  was,  by  unanimous  voice  of  his 
people,  again,  in  his  own  words,  "in  our  father's  house."  His 
apartments  in  the  old  National  Hotel,  as  he  never  failed  to 
explain  to  his  visitors,  were  those  long  occupied  by  his  political 
idol,  Henry  Clay.  His  couch  stood  in  the  exact  spot  where 
Mr.  Clay  had  died;  and  he  no  doubt  thought  —  possibly 
wished  —  that  his  own  end  might  come  just  where  that  great 
Commoner  had  breathed  his  last.  This,  however,  was  not 
to  be.  His  last  hours  were  spent  at  the  capital  of  his 
native  commonwealth,  which  had,  with  scarce  a  dissenting 
voice,  just  honored  itself  by  electing  him  to  its  chief  execu 
tive  office. 

The  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  the 
successor  of  the  lamented  Kerr  as  Speaker  of  the  House.  As 
such  he  presided  during  the  last  session  of  the  forty-fourth 
Congress,  and  during  the  two  Congresses  immediately  suc 
ceeding.  He  had  long  been  a  member,  coming  in  with 
Elaine  and  Garfield  just  before  the  close  of  the  war.  Able, 
courageous,  and  thoroughly  skilled  in  parliamentary  tactics, 
he  had  achieved  a  national  reputation  as  the  leader  of  the 
minority  in  the  forty-third  Congress.  During  the  pro 
tracted  and  exciting  struggle  near  its  close,  over  the  Force 
Bill  —  the  House  remaining  in  continuous  session  for  fifty- 
six  hours  —  Mr.  Randall  had  displayed  wonderful  endurance 
and  marvellous  capability  for  successful  leadership.  He  was 
more  than  once  presented  by  his  State  in  Democratic 
national  conventions  for  nomination  to  the  Presidency.  He 
was  an  excellent  presiding  officer,  prompt,  often  aggressive, 
and  was  rarely  vanquished  in  his  many  brilliant  passages 
with  the  leaders  of  the  minority.  One  incident  is  recalled, 
however,  when  the  tables  were  turned  against  the  Speaker, 


8*  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

no  one  joining  more  heartily  than  himself  in  the  laugh  that 
'followed.  Mr.  Conger,  of  Michigan,  with  great  earnestness 
and  persistency,  was  urging  the  consideration  of  a  resolution 
which  the  Speaker  had  repeatedly  declared  out  of  order. 
By  no  means  disconcerted  by  the  decision,  Mr.  Conger, 
walking  down  the  aisle,  was  vehement  in  his  demand  for 
the  immediate  consideration  of  his  resolution.  At  which  the 
Speaker  with  much  indignation  said,  "Well,  I  think  the  Chair 
has  a  right  to  exercise  a  little  common  sense  in  this  mat 
ter."  To  which  Mr.  Conger  instantly  responded,  "  Oh,  if 
the  Chair  has  the  slightest  intention  of  doing  anything  of 
that  kind,  I  will  immediately  take  my  seat!" 

The  Hon.  David  Dudley  Field,  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy, 
was  a  Representative  from  the  city  of  New  York  during  the 
closing  session  of  the  forty-fourth  Congress.  He  was  an 
eminent  lawyer,  and,  at  the  time,  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
American  bar.  His  name  is  inseparably  associated  with 
many  important  reforms  in  legal  procedure  during  the  last 
half  century.  He  had  been  instrumental  in  securing  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  of  distinguished  jurists,  chosen 
from  the  leading  nations,  to  prepare  the  outlines  of  an  inter 
national  code.  His  report  accompanying  the  plan,  to  the 
preparation  of  which  he  had  given  much  thought  and  time, 
received  the  earnest  commendation  of  leading  publicists  and 
jurists  in  Europe,  as  well  as  in  his  own  country.  His  untiring 
efforts,  looking  to  the  substitution  of  international  courts  of 
arbitration  for  war,  have  given  his  name  honored  place  among 
the  world's  benefactors. 

Mr.  Field  was  the  eldest  of  four  brothers,  whose  names  are 
known  wherever  our  language  is  spoken.  The  family  was  dis 
tinguished  for  talents  of  the  highest  order.  It  would  indeed  be 
difficult  to  find  its  counterpart  in  our  history.  One  of  the 
brothers,  Stephen  J.  Field,  was  for  a  third  of  a  century  a  dis 
tinguished  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
The  youngest,  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field,  was  eminent  alike  as 
theologian  and  author.  The  name  of  the  remaining  brother, 
Cyrus  W.  Field,  is,  and  will  continue,  a  household  word  in 
two  hemispheres.  After  repeated  failures,  to  the  verge  even 


SAMUEL  S.  COX 


HENRY  WATTERSON 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  38 

of  extremity,  "the  trier  of  spirits/'  the  dream  of  his  life 
became  a  reality.  The  Atlantic  cable  was  laid,  and,  in  the 
words  of  John  Bright,  Mr.  Field  had  "moored  the  New  World 
alongside  the  Old." 

The  Hon.  Henry  Watterson,  of  Kentucky,  was  a  repre 
sentative  during  the  closing  session  of  this  Congress.  As  the 
editor  of  a  great  journal,  Mr.  Watterson  was  already  well 
known  to  the  country.  His  talents  were  of  a  high  order.  In 
his  chosen  field  he  had  no  superior.  For  many  years  he  was 
a  recognized  leader  of  his  party,  and  one  of  the  chief  managers 
in  all  its  national  conventions.  His  contributions  to  the 
literature  of  three  decades  of  political  campaigns  were  almost 
unparalleled.  As  a  forcible,  trenchant  writer  he  is  to  be 
mentioned  with  Greeley,  Raymond,  Prentice,  and  Dana. 
His  career,  too,  as  a  public  lecturer,  has  been  both  successful 
and  brilliant.  The  Congressional  service  of  Mr.  Watterson 
terminated  with  the  session  just  mentioned.  His  speech, 
near  its  close,  upon  the  bill  creating  an  electoral  commission 
to  determine  the  Tilden-Hayes  Presidential  controversy  was 
listened  to  with  earnest  attention,  and  at  once  gave  him  high 
place  among  the  great  debaters  of  that  eventful  Congress. 

While  a  passenger  on  a  train  to  Washington,  to  be  present 
at  the  opening  of  Congress,  my  attention  was  directed  to  a 
man  of  venerable  appearance,  who  entered  the  sleeping-car  at 
a  station  not  many  miles  out  from  Cincinnati.  He  was 
dressed  in  " Kentucky  jeans"  and  had  the  appearance  of  a 
well-to-do  farmer.  Standing  in  the  aisle  near  me,  he  was  soon 
engaged  in  earnest  conversation  with  the  porter,  endeavoring 
to  secure  a  berth.  The  porter  repeatedly  assured  him  that 
this  was  impossible,  as  every  berth  was  taken.  He  told  the 
porter  that  he  was  quite  ill,  and  must  get  on  his  journey.  I 
then  proposed  that  he  share  my  berth  for  the  night  He 
gladly  did  so  until  other  accommodations  were  provided. 

On  the  Monday  following,  when  the  House  was  hi  the 
process  of  organization,  the  name  of  James  D.  Williams  of 
Indiana  being  called,  my  sleeping-car  acquaintance,  still 
attired  in  blue  jeans,  stepped  forward  with  his  colleagues 
to  the  Speaker's  desk  and  was  duly  sworn  in  as  a  member  of 


34  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Congress.  This  was  his  first  term,  but  he  soon  became  quite 
well  known  to  the  country.  As  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Accounts,  having  to  do  with  small  expenditures,  he  closely 
scrutinized  every  claim  presented,  and  scaled  to  the  lowest 
many  pet  measures.  His  determination  to  economize,  as 
well  as  his  peculiarity  of  dress  and  appearance,  soon  made  him 
an  especial  object  of  amusement  to  newspaper  correspondents. 
He  was  the  butt  of  many  cheap  jokes;  one  being  his  alleged 
complaint  that  hundreds  of  towels  were  being  daily  used  by 
members  at  the  Capitol,  at  the  public  expense,  while  at  his 
home,  on  his  farm,  one  towel  would  last  a  week,  with  eleven 
in  the  family.  Despite,  however,  all  jokes  and  gibes,  he  soon 
became  the  most  popular  man  in  his  State.  "Blue  Jeans 
Williams"  became  a  name  to  conjure  with;  and  in  the  cele 
brated  campaign  of  1876,  after  an  exciting  contest,  he  was 
elected  Governor,  defeating  an  able  and  popular  leader,  who, 
twelve  years  later,  was  himself  elected  President  of  the 
United  States. 

No  sketch  of  "the  American  Commons"  during  the  last 
fifty  years  would  be  in  any  measure  complete  that  failed  to 
make  mention  of  the  man  who  was  nineteen  times  elected  a 
Representative,  the  Hon.  William  S.  Holman,  of  Indiana. 
Whatever  the  ups  and  downs  of  party  supremacy,  despite  all 
attempts  by  gerrymandering  to  relegate  him  to  the  shades 
of  private  life,  Judge  Holman,  with  unruffled  front,  "a  mien 
at  once  kindly,  persuasive,  and  patient,"  held  sturdily  on  his 
way.  Amid  political  upheavals  that  overwhelmed  all  his 
associates  upon  the  ticket,  his  name,  like  that  of  Abou  Ben  Ad- 
hem,  led  all  the  rest.  From  Pierce  to  McKinley  —  whatever 
the  issues,  and  howsoever  determined  —  at  each  successive 
organization  of  the  House  "the  gentleman  from  Indiana" 
was  an  unfailing  respondent  to  the  opening  roll-call.  An  old 
English  stanza  comes  to  mind : 

"  And  this  is  law,  that  I  '11  maintain 

Until  my  dying  day,  sir, 
That  whatsoever  King  shall  reign, 
Still  1 11  be  vicar  of  Bray,  sir." 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  35 

His  integrity  was  unquestioned;  his  knowledge  of  public 
business,  phenomenal.  With  no  brilliancy,  little  in  the  way 
of  oratory,  Judge  Holman  was  nevertheless  one  of  the  most 
valuable  members  ever  known  to  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  The  Lobby  regarded  him  as  its  mortal  foe.  He  was  for 
years  the  recognized  " watch-dog  of  the  Treasury."  Personal 
appeals  to  his  courtesy,  to  permit  the  present  consideration  of 
private  bills,  had,  in  the  main,  as  well  have  been  made  to  a 
marble  statue.  His  well  known  and  long  to  be  remembered, 
"I  object,  Mr.  Speaker,"  sounded  the  knell  of  many  a  well 
devised  raid  upon  the  Treasury.  It  may  be  that  he  some 
times  prevented  the  early  consideration  of  meritorious  meas 
ures,  but  with  occasional  exceptions  his  objections  were 
wholesome.  He  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  popular  pulse, 
and  knew,  as  if  by  instinct,  which  would  be  the  safe  and 
which  the  dangerous  side  of  the  pending  measure.  It  some 
times  seemed  that  he  could  even  "  look  into  the  seeds  of 
time  and  tell  which  grain  will  grow  and  which  will  not." 

It  has  been  said  that  even  great  men  have  at  times  their 
little  weaknesses.  An  incident  to  be  related  will  show  that 
possibly  Judge  Holman  was  no  exception  to  that  rule.  The 
consideration  of  sundry  bills  for  the  erection  of  post-office 
buildings  in  a  number  of  districts  having  "gone  over"  by 
reason  of  his  objection,  the  members  having  the  bills  in  charge 
joined  forces  and  lumped  the  several  measures  into  an  " omni 
bus  bill"  which  was  duly  presented.  The  members  especially 
interested  in  its  passage,  to  "make  assurance  doubly  sure," 
had  quietly  inserted  a  provision  for  the  erection  of  a  Govern 
ment  building  in  one  of  the  cities  of  Holman' s  district.  When 
the  bill  was  read,  Judge  Holman,  as  he  sat  busily  writing  at 
his  desk,  was,  without  solicitation  upon  his  part,  the  closely 
observed  of  every  member.  Apparently  oblivious,  however, 
to  all  that  was  occurring,  he  continued  to  write.  No  objec 
tion  being  made,  the  bill  was  in  the  very  act  of  passing  when 
an  exceedingly  bright  member  from  Wisconsin,  "being  moved 
and  instigated  by  the  devil,"  no  doubt,  rushed  to  the  front 
and  exclaimed,  "Mr.  Speaker,  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  gentleman  from  the  fourth  district  of  Indiana  to  the  fact 


86  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

that  the  Treasury  is  being  robbed ! ' '  Unmoved  by  the  appeal, 
the  Judge  continued  to  write,  and,  as  one  of  his  colleagues 
afterwards  remarked,  "was  chewing  his  tobacco  very  fine." 
After  a  moment  of  suspense,  and  amid  applause  in  which 
even  the  galleries  took  part,  the  member  from  Wisconsin, 
in  tragic  tones,  exclaimed,  "Ah,  Mr.  Speaker,  our  watch 
dog  of  the  Treasury,  like  all  other  good  watch-dogs,  never 
barks  when  his  friends  are  around!" 

Mr.  Blackburn,  of  Kentucky,  began  his  long  and  eventful 
legislative  career  as  a  member  of  this  Congress.  As  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  Ashland  District,  he  was  the  successor  of 
Clay,  Crittenden,  Marshall,  Breckenridge,  Beck  —  illustrious 
names  in  the  history  of  the  State  and  of  the  nation.  He  was 
worthy  the  succession,  and,  at  the  close  of  ten  years'  service 
in  the  House,  was  elected  to  the  Senate.  He  came  within  a 
few  votes  of  being  chosen  as  the  candidate  of  his  party  for 
Speaker  at  the  opening  of  the  forty-sixth  Congress.  He  was 
a  born  orator.  It  was  as  natural  for  him  to  speak  as  to 
breathe.  Wake  him  up  at  any  hour  of  the  night,  and  he 
would  be  ready  upon  the  instant  for  an  eloquent  speech  of  any 
length,  upon  any  subject.  Thoroughly  familiar  with  all  that 
pertained  to  our  political  history,  with  a  voice  easily  heard 
above  the  storm,  he  was  ever  in  the  forefront  of  the  hurly- 
burly  of  heated  partisan  debate.  There  was  little  that  was 
conciliatory  about  him.  He  neither  gave  nor  asked  quarter. 
A  born  fighter,  he  had  rather 

"  Follow  his  enemy  through  a  fiery  gulf, 
Than  flatter  him  in  a  bower." 

Possessing  neither  the  keen  wit  of  his  colleague,  McKenzie, 
nor  the  profound  humor  of  Knott,  he  was  nevertheless  the 
hero  of  more  interesting  narratives  than  any  member  who 
ever  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains. 

The  incident  to  be  related  may  have  suggested  the  witty 
reply  of  Senator  Proctor  to  the  Vice-President  when  invited 
by  the  latter  to  come  into  the  devotional  exercises:  " Excuse 
me,  I  am  paired  with  Blackburn  on  prayers."  This  equals 
hie  reply  when  asked  by  Senator  Hale  what  he  thought 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  37 

of  Senator  Chandler:  "I  like  him,  but  it  is  an  acquired 
taste." 

Upon  the  occasion  of  the  retirement  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Butler  from  the  Chaplaincy  of  the  Senate  —  a  position  he  had 
filled  most  acceptably  for  many  years  —  many  of  the  Sena 
tors  spoke  regretfully  of  his  retirement.  The  speech  of  Mr. 
Blackburn,  for  beauty  of  expression  and  pathetic  eloquence, 
was  unrivalled.  He  spoke  most  tenderly  of  the  faithfulness 
of  the  venerable  man  of  God;  how  for  long  years  he  had  gone 
in  and  out  before  us;  of  his  daily  walk  and  conversation;  how, 
like  the  Blessed  Master,  his  only  thought  was  of  doing  good; 
of  how  he  had  often  invoked  the  Divine  blessing  upon  us  and 
our  loved  ones,  and  lifted  us  as  it  were  in  his  arms  up  to  the 
very  throne  of  grace.  The  orator  seemed  inspired,  as  though 
his  lips  were  indeed  touched  with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar. 
The  counterpart  of  the  scene  that  followed  his  closing  words 
had  never  been  witnessed  in  legislative  assembly.  All  were 
in  tears.  It  was  even  said  that  venerable  Senators,  who  had 
never  shed  a  tear  since  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent, 
actually  sobbed  aloud,  and  refused  to  be  comforted.  At 
length,  amid  silence  that  could  be  felt,  an  adjournment  was 
effected,  and  the  Senators  passed  sadly  out  to  their  homes. 
As  he  passed  the  Chair,  Senator  Vest,  in  undertone,  remarked 
to  the  Vice-President,  "  Jo  never  saw  him!" 

The  next  day,  in  the  absence  of  his  successor,  "the  blind 
chaplain,"  Dr.  Butler  again,  and  for  the  last  time,  officiated, 
simply  repeating  in  manner  most  solemn  and  impressive,  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  At  its  conclusion,  Senator  Blackburn,  who 
had  been  a  most  attentive  listener,  came  forward  to  the  desk 
and  remarked  to  Vice-President  Stevenson:  "I  tell  you,  sir, 
I  like  that  new  chaplain  of  ours.  What  a  splendid  prayer! 
There  is  something  original  about  that  man!" 

Thirty  years  and  more  ago,  when  first  a  candidate  for 
Congress,  Mr.  Blackburn  attended  a  public  execution  —  in 
common  parlance  "a  hanging"  —  in  one  of  the  counties  of 
his  district.  Being  a  gentleman  of  great  distinction,  and  a 
candidate  for  Congress,  he  was  appropriately  invited  by  the 
sheriff  to  occupy  a  seat  with  the  prisoner  and  his  spiritual 


38  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

adviser  upon  the  gallows.  At  the  near  approach  of  the  fatal 
hour,  the  sheriff,  with  watch  in  hand,  amid  the  sea  of  upturned 
faces,  stated  to  the  prisoner  that  he  had  yet  five  minutes  to 
live,  and  it  was  his  privilege  if  he  so  desired  to  address  the 
audience.  The  prisoner  meekly  replied  that  he  did  not  wish 
to  speak.  Whereupon  Mr.  Blackburn,  stepping  promptly  to 
the  front  of  the  scaffold,  said:  "As  the  gentleman  does  not 
wish  to  speak,  if  he  will  kindly  yield  me  his  time,  I  will  take 
this  occasion  to  remark  that  I  am  a  candidate  for  Congress, 
regularly  nominated  by  the  Democratic  Convention,"  etc. 
This  incident  being  told  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Marshall,  the 
opposing  candidate,  the  latter  remarked  that  he  remembered 
it  well,  and  could  vouch  for  its  truth.  He  then  added  that 
when  Mr.  Blackburn  proposed  to  speak  out  the  prisoner's 
time,  the  latter  turned  to  the  Sheriff  and  inquired  who  that 
was.  To  which  the  officer  replied,  "  Captain  Blackburn.1' 
At  this  the  prisoner,  who  had  amid  all  the  exciting  scenes 
of  his  arrest  and  trial,  and  even  up  to  the  present  mo 
ment,  with  his  open  coffin  beside  him,  displayed  mar 
vellous  fortitude,  suddenly  exhibiting  deep  emotion, 
piteously  exclaimed,  "Please  hang  me  first,  and  let  him 
speak  afterwards!" 

When,  in  the  tide  of  time,  will  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  witness  the  like  of  "Sunset"  Cox?  Beginning  a  Con 
gressional  career,  which  was  to  terminate  only  with  his  death, 
when  scarcely  of  the  constitutional  age,  he  was  in  close  suc 
cession  a  representative  from  two  great  States,  —  in  his  early 
manhood  from  the  Capital  district  of  Ohio,  and  in  his  ma- 
turer  years,  even  down  to  old  age,  the  most  prominent  of  the 
delegation  from  the  great  State  of  New  York.  Mr.  Cox  was 
gifted  as  few  men  have  been  in  this  world.  His  literary 
attainments  were  of  a  high  order,  and  some  of  the  books  of 
which  he  was  the  author  will  no  doubt  furnish  instructive 
and  entertaining  reading  for  many  generations  to  come.  He 
was  an  indefatigable  student,  and  seemed,  as  did  Lord  Bacon, 
to  have  "taken  all  knowledge  for  his  province."  His  ac 
curate  knowledge  of  the  history  of  all  countries  and  times 
was  a  marvel,  and,  all  at  his  instant  command,  placed  him 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  39 

upon  rare  vantage  ground  in  the  many  forensic  struggles  in 
which  he  took  part.  Woe  betide  the  unfortunate  antag 
onist  whose  record  was  other  than  faultless.  He  was  a  born 
debater,  full  of  resources,  and  aggressive  to  the  last  degree. 
He  never  waited  for  opportunities,  but  sought  them.  In 
great  emergencies  he  was  often  put  forward  by  his  political 
associates  for  the  fierce  encounter  with  the  great  leaders 
upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  Chamber.  He  was  withal  one 
of  the  most  kindly  of  men.  He  was  the  soul  of  personal  and 
official  honor.  His  integrity  could  know  no  temptation. 
It  may  truly  be  said  of  him  that  — 

"  Whatever  record  leaps  to  light, 
He  never  can  be  shamed." 

His  sympathies  were  deeply  enlisted  for  the  safety  of  those 
"who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships."  For  years  he  was  the 
earnest  advocate  of  a  thorough  life-saving  system.  Much  of 
the  present  efficiency  of  this  humane  branch  of  the  public 
service  is  due  to  his  untiring  efforts.  He  had  travelled  to  all 
countries,  and  even  to  the  islands  of  the  sea.  He  was  of  sunny 
disposition,  and  believed  that  " whatever  places  the  eye  of 
Heaven  visits  are  to  the  wise  man  ports  and  happy  havens." 

Mr.  Cox  was  one  of  the  most  genial  and  delightful  of  asso 
ciates.  With  him  and  Vance,  Knott,  and  Randolph  Tucker 
as  companions  for  the  social  hour,  the  night  would  flee  away 
like  a  shadow.  His  wit  was  of  the  rarest  order.  He  would 
have  been  on  terms  of  recognized  kinship  with  Sydney  Smith 
and  Charles  Lamb.  He  once  said  of  a  vinegar- visaged  member 
that  the  only  regret  he  had  on  earth  was  that  there  were  no 
more  commandments  to  keep;  what  few  there  were  he  kept  so 
easily.  As  illustrating  his  readiness  and  elasticity,  whatever 
the  emergency,  two  instances,  out  of  the  many  that  crowd 
upon  memory,  will  be  given.  During  an  all-night  session  of 
the  House,  amid  great  confusion,  the  roll-call  was  ordered. 
The  first  name,  "Mr.  Archer,"  was  called,  and  the  response 
"Aye"  was  given.  The  clerk,  failing  to  hear  the  response, 
immediately  repeated,  "Mr.  Archer,"  to  which  the  latter, 
in  tones  heard  above  the  din  of  many  voices,  again  answered 


40  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"Aye."    Instantly  Mr.  Cox  exclaimed:    ''Insatiate  Archer, 
would  not  one  suffice?" 

A  new  member  from  a  district  far  to  the  westward  entered 
the  House.  His  advoirdupois  was  in  keeping  with  the  vast 
territorial  area  he  represented.  As  a  wit,  he  was  without  a 
rival  in  his  section.  The  admiration  of  his  constituents  over 
the  marvellous  attainments  of  the  new  member,  scarcely 
exceeded  his  own.  Only  the  opportunity  was  wanting  when 
the  star  of  the  gentleman  from  New  York  should  go  down  and 
his  own  be  in  the  ascendant.  The  opportunity  at  length 
came.  Mr.  Cox  was  the  victim  of  the  hour;  the  recipient  of 
many  compliments  much  more  fervid  than  kind.  The  seven 
vials  of  wrath  were  opened  upon  him.  A  vast  storehouse  of 
wit,  ancient  and  modern,  was  literally  exhausted  for  the 
occasion.  Even  the  diminutive  size  of  the  New  York  member 
was  mentioned  in  terms  of  disparagement.  The  speech 
caused  much  merriment  in  the  House  during  its  delivery, 
and  its  author  with  an  air  of  self-satisfaction  rarely  witnessed, 
even  in  that  body,  resumed  his  seat.  Mr.  Cox  at  once  took 
the  floor.  No  attempt  will  be  made  to  do  justice  to  his 
speech.  The  manner,  the  tone  of  voice,  which  caused  an 
uproar  upon  the  floor  and  in  the  galleries,  can  never  find  their 
way  into  print.  Referring  to  the  ill-mannered  allusion  to 
his  size,  he  said  "that  his  constituents  preferred  a  repre 
sentative  with  brains,  rather  than  one  whose  only  claims  to 
distinction  consisted  in  an  abnormal  abdominal  develop 
ment."  In  tragic  tones  he  then  pronounced  a  funeral  eulogy 
over  his  assailant,  and  suggested,  as  a  fitting  inscription  for 
his  tombstone,  the  pathetic  words  of  Byron, 

"  'Tis  Greece,  but  living  Greece  no  more!" 

Soon  after  the  nomination  of  Tilden  for  President,  Mr. 
Cox  was  invited  to  attend  a  political  meeting  at  the  State 
capital,  and  address  the  Democracy  of  Vermont.  When  the 
scarcity  of  Democrats  in  the  Green  Mountain  State  is  taken 
into  account,  the  significance  of  Mr.  Cox's  reply  will  readily 
appear.  His  telegram  was  to  the  effect  that  pressing  engage 
ments  prevented  his  attending,  but  "if  the  Democracy  of 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  41 

Vermont  will  drop  into  my  library  any  afternoon,  about  four 
o'clock,  I  will  address  them  with  great  pleasure." 

In  attempting  to  write  something  of  a  member  so  long  and 
so  favorably  known  to  the  House  as  the  Hon.  J.  Proctor  Knott 
of  Kentucky,  I  am  reminded  of  the  opening  sentences  of  the 
touching  tribute  of  Judge  Baldwin  to  an  honored,  associate : 

"I  nib  my  pen  and  impart  to  it  a  fine  hair  stroke  in  order 
that  I  may  give  the  more  delicate  touch  which  can  alone  show 
forth  the  character  of  this  distinguished  gentleman.  If  I  hold 
the  pen  in  hand  in  idle  reverie,  it  is  because  my  mind  rests 
lovingly  upon  a  picture  I  feel  incapable  of  transcribing  with 
fidelity  to  the  original;  and  therefore  I  pause  a  moment  to 
look  once  more  at  the  original,  before  it  is  obscured  by  the  rude 
counterpart." 

It  was  worth  while  to  have  known  Proctor  Knott,  to  have 
been  his  contemporary  in  public  life,  the  sharer  of  his  confi 
dence,  the  guest  at  his  hearthstone.  In  the  highest  sense  of 
the  expression,  he  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  To 
him  there  was  rare  meaning  in  the  words,  "Old  wood  to 
burn!  Old  wine  to  drink!  Old  friends  to  trust!  " 

He  was  as  familiar  with  the  Bible,  with  Shakespeare,  and 
Burns,  as  though  he  had  written  them.  His  quotations, 
whether  in  private  conversation,  or  in  public  speech,  were 
always  timely.  There  was  little  in  the  way  of  the  best 
literature,  ancient  or  modern,  that  he  had  not  read.  As  was 
truly  said  of  the  gifted  Prentiss: 

"His  imagination  was  colored  and  imbued  with  the  light 
of  the  shadowy  past.  He  lingered  spell-bound  among  the  scenes 
of  mediaeval  chivalry.  His  spirit  had  dwelt  until  almost  natural 
ized  in  the  mystic  dreamland  of  the  Paladins,  Crusaders,  and 
Knights  Templars;  with  Monmouth  and  Percy,  with  Bois- 
Guilbert  and  Ivanhoe  and  the  bold  McGregor;  with  the  Cava 
liers  of  Rupert,  and  the  iron  enthusiasts  of  Fairfax." 

He  was  the  inveterate  hater  of  shams  of  all  kinds,  and  of 
mere  pretenders  of  every  description.  He  ever  avoided  the 
short  cuts,  and  kept  steadily  along  in  the  old  way.  His 
heroes,  like  those  of  Dickens,  were  taken  from  the  common 
walk;  the  men  he  had  met  in  the  road  and  at  the  hustings,  at 


42  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

whose  firesides  he  had  passed  many  hours.  Whatever  con 
cerned  them,  whatever  involved  in  any  manner  their  welfare, 
was  of  deep  interest  to  him.  If  he  had  chosen  his  own  epitaph 
it  might  have  read : 

"  In  common  ways,  with  common  men, 
I  served  my  race  and  time." 

He  was  both  an  artist  and  a  poet.  He  loved  flowers,  and 
there  was  to  his  ears  no  music  so  sweet  as  the  merry  laughter 
of  children.  And,  whether  in  private  life,  or  in  his  great 
executive  office  as  "the  arbiter  of  human  fate,"  the  tale  of 
woe  never  failed  to  touch  a  sympathetic  cord.  He  had  in 
very  deed, 

"  A  tear  for  pity,  and  a  hand  open  as  day  to  melting  charity." 

He  was  welcome  at  every  hearthstone,  as  one  "who  cometh 
unto  you  with  a  tale  which  holdeth  children  from  play,  and 
old  men  from  the  chimney  corner." 

Soon  after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Knott  removed 
to  Missouri,  where  he  was  almost  immediately  elected  to  the 
responsible  position  of  Attorney-General  of  the  State.  In 
due  time  he  returned  to  his  native  State,  and  was  for  six  terms 
a  representative  in  Congress.  Yet  later,  and  as  the  shadows 
were  beginning  to  fall  to  the  eastward,  he  was,  almost  by 
common  acclaim,  called  to  the  chief  executive  office  of  the 
commonwealth.  It  may  truly  be  said  of  him  that  "with 
clear  head,  and  with  clean  hands,  he  faithfully  discharged 
every  public  trust." 

Mr.  Knott  entered  Congress  just  at  the  close  of  the  great 
Civil  War.  It  was  a  period  of  excitement  throughout  the 
entire  country,  and  of  intense  foreboding  to  the  section  he 
represented.  In  the  debates  of  that  stormy  period  he  bore 
no  mean  part.  He  was  counted  a  foeman  worthy  the  steel  of 
the  ablest  who  entered  the  lists.  A  thorough  student  from 
the  beginning,  of  all  that  pertained  to  Magna  Charta,  the  Bill 
of  Rights,  and  the  Federal  Constitution,  he  was  equipped  as 
few  men  have  been,  for  forensic  contests  that  have  left  their 
deep  impress  upon  history.  The  evidence  of  his  ability  as  a 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  43 

lawyer  is  to  be  found  in  the  satisfactory  manner  in  which 
for  three  Congresses  he  discharged  the  duties  of  the  trying  posi 
tion  of  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  The  ablest  lawyers  of  both  political  parties 
constituted  this  great  committee,  and  its  chairman,  if  possess 
ing  only  mediocre  talents  or  attainments,  would  have  been 
sadly  out  of  place. 

But  with  his  heavy  armor  laid  aside,  the  genius  of  Knott 
was  made  manifest  along  more  pleasing  lines.  Few  speeches 
ever  delivered  in  Congress  have  been  so  generally  read,  or 
so  thoroughly  imbedded  into  current  literature,  as  one  he 
delivered  soon  after  his  first  admission  to  the  House.  Duluth 
awoke  the  morning  after  its  delivery  to  find  itself  famous. 
As  "  the  zenith  city  of  the  usalted  seas,"  it  has  been  known 
and  read  of  all  men.  As  such,  it  will  probably  continue  to  be 
known  for  ages  to  come.  The  speech  hopelessly  defeated  a 
bill  making  a  land  grant  to  a  proposed  railroad,  of  which 
Duluth  was  to  be  a  terminus.  His  mirthful  prediction,  how 
ever,  as  to  its  marvellous  future  has  been  fulfilled.  How  true 
it  is  that  "jesters  do  oft  prove  prophets!"  Bearing  in  mind 
that  the  great  city  of  to-day  then  had  no  place  even  upon  the 
map,  the  words  quoted  from  the  speech  will  be  appreciated: 

"  Duluth,  Duluth !  The  word  fell  upon  my  ear  with  peculiar 
and  indescribable  charm,  like  the  gentle  murmur  of  a  brook 
stealing  forth  in  the  midst  of  roses,  or  the  soft  sweet  accent  of 
an  angel's  whisper  in  the  bright  joyous  dream  of  sleeping  inno 
cence.  Duluth!  'Twas  the  name  for  which  my  soul  had 
panted  for  years,  as  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water  brooks.  I 
was  convinced  that  the  greatest  calamity  that  ever  befell  the 
benighted  nations  of  the  ancient  world  was  their  having  passed 
away  without  a  knowledge  of  the  actual  existence  of  Duluth; 
that-  their  fabled  Atlantis,  never  seen  save  by  the  hallowed 
vision  of  inspired  poesy,  was  in  fact  but  another  name  for  Du 
luth;  that  the  golden  orchard  of  the  Hesperides  was  but  a  poeti 
cal  synonym  for  the  beer-gardens  in  the  vicinity  of  Duluth.  As 
that  name  first  fell  upon  my  ear,  a  resplendent  scene  of  ineffable 
glory  opened  before  me,  such  as  I  imagine  burst  upon  the  en 
raptured  visions  of  the  wandering  Peri  through  the  opening 
gates  of  Paradise." 

Mr.  Knott  was  often  the  sad  and  silent  man.    His  real 


44  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

intimacies  were  few,  and  to  strangers  he  was  reserved.  But  to 
those  who  came  within  the  circle  of  his  personal  friendship  he 
was  one  of  the  most  delightful  of  companions.  No  man  was 
ever  less  given  to  a  parade  either  of  his  friendships  or  of  his 
animosities.  His  enemies  —  and  it  would  have  been  strange 
if,  passing  through  the  eventful  scenes  he  did,  he  had  had 
none  —  knew  just  where  to  find  him.  He  was,  in  very  truth, 

"  Lofty  and  sour  to  them  that  loved  him  not; 
But,  to  those  men  that  sought  him,  sweet  as  summer." 

The  cause  often  of  mirth  in  others,  he  was  at  times  far 
from  being  joyous  himself.  Few  men  have  been  the  posses 
sors  in  so  rare  degree  of  the  gift  of  humor,  the  sure  indica 
tion  of  the  humane  and  sympathetic  in  our  nature;  that 
11  which  blends  the  pathetic  with  the  ludicrous,  and  by  the 
same  stroke  moves  to  laughter  and  to  tears."  As  Emerson 
says,  "Both  an  ornament  and  safeguard  —  genius  itself." 
The  line  of  separation  between  wit  and  humor  is  shadowy, 
not  easily  defined.  There  may  be  in  the  same  individual,  in 
some  measure,  a  blending  of  the  two.  As  has  been  said: 
"While  wit  is  a  purely  intellectual  thing,  into  every  act  of 
the  humorous  mind  there  is  an  influx  of  the  moral  nature. 
Humor  springs  up  exuberantly,  as  from  a  fountain,  and  runs 
on,  its  perpetual  game  to  look  with  considerate  good-nature 
at  every  object  in  existence,  and  dismiss  it  with  a  benison." 
While  wit,  the  purely  intellectual  quality,  sparkles  and  stings, 
humor,  "touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmity/'  would 
"gently  scan  thy  brother  man,"  remembering  ever  that 

"  What 's  done  we  partly  may  compute, 
But  know  not  what 's  resisted." 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  he  who  in  large  degree  pos 
sesses  or  is  possessed  by  this  subtle  quality  should  be  subject 
to  moods,  it  may  be  melancholy  —  "the  effect  of  that  humor 
that  sometime  hath  his  hour  with  every  man."  That  Gov 
ernor  Knott  was  deeply  endowed  with  humor  in  its  best 
sense,  no  one  who  knew  him  could  doubt.  In  relating  inci 
dents  that  convulsed  his  listeners,  he  gave  no  sign;  his  own 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  45 

features  remained  as  solemn  as  if  he  were  attending  the 
obsequies  of  his  dearest  friend.  There  is  something  that  is 
suggestive  in  the  lines  of  Thomas  Hood, 

"  There  's  not  a  string  attuned  to  mirth 
But  has  its  chord  in  melancholy." 

While  Governor  of  Kentucky,  he  sent  to  the  Hon.  Stoddart 
Johnston  a  certificate,  officially  signed  and  bearing  the 
impress  of  the  great  seal  of  State,  duly  commissioning  him  as 
"  Mister,"  a  distinctive  and  honorable  title  that  no  Ken- 
tuckian  had  previously  borne.  This  recalls  the  witty  remark 
of  Max  O'Rell:  "The  only  thing  that  Mr.  Ingersoll  appears 
to  hold  in  common  with  his  countrymen  is  the  title  of  Colo 
nel" 

Many  years  ago  McCullough,  the  tragedian,  was  giving 
his  splendid  impersonations  of  the  two  masterpieces  of 
Shakespeare  at  the  national  Capital.  The  morning  follow 
ing  one  of  these,  Mr.  Knott  and  I,  passing  along  the  avenue 
on  our  way  to  the  House,  were  stopped  by  an  exceedingly 
solemn-visaged  individual  who,  addressing  the  former,  said: 
"Mr.  Knott,  I  would  like  to  have  your  judgment  as  to  which 
is  the  best  play,  Hamlet  or  Macbeth." 

Gazing  earnestly  at  his  inquisitor,  and  in  a  tone  at  once 
deprecatory  and  inimitable,  Knott  replied:  "My  friend, 
don't  ask  me  that  question.  I  am  a  politician,  and  a  candi 
date  for  reelection  to  Congress;  my  district  is  about  equally 
divided;  Hamlet  has  his  friends  down  there,  and  Macbeth 
his,  and  I  am  unwilling  to  take  any  part  between  them!" 

When  in  joint  canvass  with  his  competitor  for  the  Gover 
norship  of  his  State,  Mr.  Knott,  having,  by  appointment,  at 
one  of  the  county  seats  in  "the  Purchase,"  made  the 
opening  speech,  was  seated  near  by  to  listen  to  that  of  the 
opposing  candidate.  The  latter,  a  gentleman  having  a  high 
sense  of  propriety,  and  a  dignity  of  bearing  that  would  have 
done  no  discredit  to  an  assembly  of  divines,  had  been 
exceedingly  annoyed  by  Knott's  speech,  which  had  in  very 
truth  kept  the  audience  in  an  uproar  during  its  entire  delivery. 
Beginning  his  reply,  he  said: 


46  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"Fellow-citizens,  I  will  endeavor  to  indicate  to  you  the 
kind  of  a  man  who,  in  my  judgment,  should  be  elected  to  the 
position  of  Governor  of  this  grand  old  commonwealth.  In 
the  first  place,  that  exalted  position  should  never  be  filled  by 
one  who,  for  lack  of  serious  argument,  constantly  appeals  to 
the  risibilities  of  his  audience;  never  by  a  wit,  a  mere  joker,  a 
story-teller;  in  other  words  —  if  you  will  pardon  me,  my  fel 
low-citizens  —  by  a  mere  buffoon.  On  the  contrary,  the 
incumbent  of  the  exalted  position  of  chief  executive  of  this 
grand  old  commonwealth  should  be  a  gentleman  of  char 
acter,  of  ability,  the  worthy  successor  of  Shelby,  of  Morehead, 
of  Crittenden;  he  should  be  a  gentleman  of  scholastic  attain 
ments  and  of  dignified  bearing,  well  versed  in  classic  lore, 
and  a  thorough  student  of  the  higher  order  of  state-craft. 
In  a  word,  fellow-citizens,  you  should  elect  as  your  Governor 
a  gentleman  of  lofty  character,  of  ripe  scholarship,  of  com 
manding  dignity,  of  exalted  statesmanship,  of  — " 

At  this  point,  Knott,  interrupting,  said,  in  manner  and 
tone  the  exact  counterpart  of  that  of  the  speaker,  "  Pardon 
me,  Colonel  Smith,  but  I  am  too  modest  a  man  to  listen  longer 
to  the  beautiful  and  truthful  description  you  have  just  given 
of  me!" 

Whereupon,  amidst  the  wildest  applause,  he  retired  from 
the  hall,  as  did  the  audience,  and  the  speaking  for  the  day, 
and  the  joint  discussion  for  the  campaign,  were  closed. 


Ill 

AGAIN    IN    CONGRESS 

CHANGES  IN  THE   PERSONNEL  OF  THE  HOUSE   CONTRASTED   WITH 

THOSE  IN  THE  BRITISH  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS LEVI  P.  MORTON 

—  MR.  COVERT  AND  MR.  SHELLEY  —  GEN.  JOSEPH  E.  JOHN 
STON  —  TWO  NOTABLE  SPEECHES  BY  JAMES  A.  McKENZIE  — 
JOHN  E.  KENNA  —  BENJAMIN  BUTTERWORTH  —  MR.  KEIFER  OF 

OHIO  —  MR.    CARLISLE    OF    KENTUCKY SPEAKER    REED  — 

PRESIDENT  McKINLEY  —  THE  WRITER'S  SPEECH  AT  THE  PEACE 
JUBILEE  BANQUET,  1898. 

AFTER  an  absence  of  two  years  I  was  returned  to  the 
forty-sixth  Congress.     Circumstances   over   which    I 
had  no  control  had  prevented  my  taking  a  seat  in  the 
intervening  Congress,  my  successful  competitor  being  the  Hon. 
Thomas  F.  Tipton.     In  politics,  however,  as  in  other  things, 
"the  whirligig  of  time  brings  in  his  revenges,"  and  I  was  in 
turn  the  successful  competitor  of  my  late  opponent  in  his 
candidacy  for  reelection. 

Meanwhile,  many  changes  had  occurred  in  the  personnel 
of  the  House.  Many  familiar  names  had  been  dropped  from 
its  roll.  Of  these,  nine  had  been  transferred  to  that  of  the 
Senate,  a  former  member  was  now  in  the  Cabinet,  and  Mr. 
Wheeler  of  New  York  was  Vice-President.  A  significant 
fact  in  this  connection,  and  one  illustrating  the  uncertainty 
of  the  tenure  by  which  place  is  held  in  that  body,  was  that 
more  than  one-third  of  those  with  whom  I  had  so  recently 
served  were  now  in  private  life.  Possibly  no  feature  of  our 
governmental  system  causes  more  astonishment  to  intelli 
gent  foreigners  than  the  many  changes  biennially  occurring 
in  the  membership  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  There 
is  marked  difference  between  the  British  House  of  Commons, 
and  the  popular  branch  of  the  American  Congress.  A  seat 
lost  in  the  latter  —  it  may  be  by  a  single  unfortunate  utter; 
ance,  or  unpopular  vote  —  is  usually  a  seat  lost  forever; 
while  in  the  former,  membership  may  continue  for  an  almost 

47 


48  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

indefinite  period,  and  until  an  "appeal  to  the  country"  by 
the  Ministry  upon  a  new  and  vital  issue.  If  defeated  by  one 
constituency,  the  member  of  Parliament  may  soon  be  returned 
by  another,  the  question  of  residence  having  no  significance. 
In  fact  if  possessing  superior  talents,  the  member  is  liable  to  be 
chosen  by  two  or  more  constituencies  at  the  same  election, 
the  choice  then  resting  with  himself  as  to  which  he  will  repre 
sent.  Such  has  been  the  experience  of  the  most  eminent  of 
British  statesmen.  The  names  of  Burke,  Peel,  Gladstone, 
and  Balfour,  quite  recently,  will  readily  be  recalled  in  this 
connection.  In  the  little  island  the  aspirant  to  legislative 
honors  has  several  hundred  constituencies  from  which  to 
choose,  or  to  be  chosen,  while  in  the  larger  America  his 
political  fortunes  are  usually  bound  up  in  his  own  residence 
district. 

Upon  the  roll  of  the  House  in  the  new  Congress,  called  in 
special  session  in  March,  1879,  in  addition  to  some  heretofore 
mentioned,  were  names  well  known  to  the  country.  Of  these 
none  is  more  worthy  of  honorable  mention  than  that  of  the 
Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton  of  New  York.  In  the  business  world 
his  name  was  a  synonym  for  integrity.  The  head  of  a  great 
banking  house,  he  was  almost  as  well  known  in  the  principal 
cities  of  Europe  as  in  the  great  city  of  his  residence.  At  the 
time  of  his  first  election  to  Congress  Mr.  Morton  was,  by 
appointment  of  the  President,  an  honorary  commissioner  to 
the  Paris  Exposition.  At  the  close  of  his  legislative  career 
he  held  successively  the  honored  positions  of  Ambassador  to 
France,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  and  Governor 
of  New  York.  In  Congress,  Mr.  Morton  was  the  able  repre 
sentative  of  a  great  constituency;  as  chief  executive  of  his 
State  his  name  is  worthy  of  mention  with  the  most  eminent 
of  those  who  have  been  called  to  that  exalted  station;  as 
ambassador  to  a  foreign  court  the  honor  of  his  country  was 
ever  in  safe  keeping;  as  Vice-President,  he  was  the  model 
presiding  officer  over  the  greatest  deliberative  body  known  to 
men. 

One  of  the  brightest  members  of  the  New  York  delegation 
was  the  Hon.  James  W.  Covert  of  Flushing.  Altogether  he 


LEVI   P.  MORTON 


JAMES   A.  McKENZIE 


AGAIN  IN  CONGRESS  49 

served  ten  years  in  the  House,  and  became  in  time-one  of  its 
leading  members.  He  was  an  excellent  lawyer,  a  delightful 
associate,  and  an  able  and  ready  debater.  That  he  was 
gifted  with  a  touch  of  the  humorous  will  appear  from  the  fol 
lowing.  The  House  was  passing  through  the  agony  of  an 
all-night  session.  Confusion  reigned  supreme.  During  it  all, 
Mr.  Shelley,  from  one  of  the  Gulf  States,  stood  at  his  desk  and 
repeatedly  made  the  point  of  order  upon  Covert,  Springer, 
Kenna,  McKenzie,  and  others,  as  they  successively  addressed 
the  Chair,  that "  the  gentleman  is  not  speaking  from  his  desk." 
The  point  of  order  was  as  repeatedly  sustained  by  the  Speaker, 
the  rules  requiring  members  to  address  the  Chair  only  from 
their  respective  desks.  The  confusion  at  length  became  so 
great  that  many  members,  in  their  eagerness  to  be  heard, 
pressed  to  the  front.  The  voice  of  Mr.  Shelley,  however,  was 
heard  above  the  din  still  calling  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
rule;  to  which  the  Speaker,  his  patience  exhausted,  now 
turned  a  deaf  ear.  Desperate  beyond  measure,  Mr.  Shelley 
at  length  left  his  own  desk,  and  taking  his  position  immedi 
ately  in  front  of  the  clerk's  desk  fiercely  demanded,  "Mr. 
Speaker,  I  call  for  the  enforcement  of  the  rule."  At  which 
Covert  immediately  exclaimed,  "Mr.  Speaker,  I  call  for  the 
enforcement  of  the  rule  in  Shelley's  case/" 

Almost  directly  in  front  of  the  Speaker's  desk  sat  a  gentle 
man,  small  in  stature,  and  of  quiet,  dignified  bearing,  "the 
silent  man,"  "whose  voice  was  in  his  sword,"  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  of  Virginia.  Until  this,  his  first  election 
to  Congress  from  the  Capital  District  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
he  had  known  none  other  than  military  public  service.  He 
was  a  born  soldier.  No  one  who  saw  him  could  mistake  his 
calling.  Napoleon  did  not  more  truly  look  the  soldier  than 
did  General  Johnston.  A  graduate  of  West  Point,  his  first 
service  was  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  later  in  Mexico.  For 
gallant  conduct  at  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  he  was  brevetted 
colonel  in  the  regular  army.  His  last  service  was  when,  as 
Lieutenant-General  of  the  Confederate  Army,  he  surrendered 
to  Sherman,  thus  ending  the  great  Civil  War.  He  had  already 
reached  the  allotted  threescore  years  and  ten  when  he  entered 


50  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Congress,  and  its  ordinary  details  apparently  interested  him 
but  little.  He  earnestly  desired  the  return  of  the  era  of 
good  feeling  between  the  North  and  South,andupon  his  motion 
the  House  duly  adjourned  in  honor  of  the  day  set  apart  for 
the  decoration  of  the  graves  of  Union  soldiers. 

No  member  of  this  House  attracted  more  attention  than 
did  the  Hon.  James  A.  McKenzie  of  Kentucky,  the  repre 
sentative  from  what  in  local  parlance  was  known  as  "the 
pennyryle  district."  He  was  the  youngest  member  of  the  body, 
tall,  erect,  and  handsome.  Mr.  McKenzie  rendered  a  valuable 
service  to  his  constituents  and  the  country  during  this  Con 
gress,  by  securing  the  passage  of  a  bill  placing  quinine  upon 
the  free  list.  His  district  was  seriously  afflicted  with  the 
old-time  fever  and  ague,  and  the  reduction  by  his  bill  to  a 
nominal  cost  of  the  sure  and  only  specific  placed  his  name  high 
upon  the  list  of  benefactors. 

Two  of  his  kinsmen,  one  from  Illinois,  the  other  from 
Florida,  occupied  seats  immediately  in  his  front.  Addressing 
them  one  day,  he  said:  "It  seems  strange,  indeed,  that  we 
three  cousins  —  one  from  Illinois,  one  from  Florida,  and  one 
from  Kentucky  —  are  all  here  together  in  Congress";  and 
then  added,  with  apparent  gravity,  "and  ours  not  an  office- 
seeking  family  either!" 

As  the  session  drew  near  its  close,  he  made  repeated 
efforts  to  obtain  unanimous  consent  for  the  consideration  of 
a  bill  for  the  erection  of  a  Government  building  in  the  prin 
cipal  city  of  his  district.  The  interposition  of  the  stereo 
typed  "I  object"  had,  however,  in  each  instance,  proved 
fatal.  During  a  night  session,  near  the  close  of  the  Congress, 
requests  for  recognition  came  to  the  Speaker  from  all  parts 
of  the  chamber.  In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  Mr.  McKenzie 
arose  and,  addressing  the  Chair,  stated  with  great  solemnity 
of  manner  that  he  arose  to  a  question  of  personal  privilege. 
This  at  once  arrested  the  attention  of  the  Speaker,  and  he 
requested  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  to  state  his  question 
of  privilege.  "I  rise,  Mr.  Speaker,"  said  McKenzie,  "to  a 
question  of  the  highest  privilege,  one  pertaining  to  the  right 
of  a  member  to  a  seat  upon  this  floor  —  in  the  next  Congress 


AGAIN  IN  CONGRESS  51 

If  I  don't  get  that  post-office  bill  through  now,  my  seat  will 
be  imperilled.  I  beg  the  House  for  unanimous  consent  for 
its  immediate  consideration."  The  House  was  convulsed; 
no  objection  was  interposed,  the  bill  was  considered  and 
passed,  and  McKenzie's  seat  was  safe  for  many  years  to  come. 

Has  there  ever  been  a  more  telling  two-minutes'  speech, 
than  that  of  McKenzie  in  the  National  Convention  of  1892, 
when  he  arose  to  second  the  nomination  of  Cleveland?  After 
a  night  of  intense  excitement,  the  convention  was  still  in 
session  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  A  storm  was  raging 
without,  while  within,  thousands  in  the  great  hall  were  im 
patiently  and  loudly  demanding  an  immediate  vote.  More 
than  one  of  the  chief  orators  of  the  party,  —  men  well  known 
to  the  country  —  had  in  vain  attempted  to  be  heard.  Chaos 
seemed  to  have  come  again  at  the  crucial  moment  that  Mc 
Kenzie,  standing  upon  his  chair  in  the  centre  of  the  vast 
enclosure,  began:  "If  I  speak  longer  than  two  minutes,  I 
hope  that  some  honest  half-drowned  Democrat  will  suspend 
my  carcass  from  one  of  the  cross-beams  of  this  highly  artistic, 
but  terribly  leaky  auditorium.  Cleveland  needs  no  nomina 
tion  from  this  convention.  He  has  already  been  nominated 
by  the  people  all  along  the  line  —  all  the  way  from  Hell  Gate 
to  YubaDam!" 

The  bedlam  that  now  broke  loose  exceeded  all  that  had 
gone  before.  The  uproar  drowned  the  voice  of  the  orator 
within,  and  even,  for  the  time,  called  a  halt  upon  the  raging 
elements  without.  The  speech  was  never  concluded.  What 
might  have  been  the  closing  words  of  McKenzie's  speech,  with 
such  a  beginning,  can  never  be  known.  The  effect  of  his 
opening,  however,  was  instantaneous.  It  was  the  immediate 
prelude  to  the  overwhelming  nomination  of  his  candidate. 

The  Hon.  John  E.  Kenna,  of  West  Virginia,  was  just  at 
the  beginning  of  a  remarkably  brilliant  career.  He  was 
under  thirty  years  of  age  when  he  first  entered  Congress. 
At  the  close  of  his  third  term  in  the  House,  he  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  held  his  seat  in  that  body 
by  successive  elections  until  his  death  at  the  early  age  of 
forty-four.  He  possessed  rare  gifts  as  a  speaker,  and  was 


52  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

an  active  participant  in  many  of  the  important  debates  dur 
ing  that  eventful  period.  Senator  Kenna  was  the  beloved 
of  his  State,  and  his  early  death  brought  sorrow  to  many 
hearts. 

His  manners  were  pleasing,  and  he  was  companionable 
to  the  last  degree.  He  often  related  an  amusing  incident 
that  occurred  in  the  convention  that  first  nominated  him  for 
Congress.  His  name  was  presented  by  a  delegate  from  the 
Crossroads  in  one  of  the  mountain  counties,  in  substantially 
the  following  speech:  "Mr.  President,  I  rise  to  present  to 
this  convention,  as  a  candidate  for  Congress,  the  name  of 
John  E.  Kenna  —  the  peer,  sir,  of  no  man  in  the  State  of 
West  Virginia." 

Among  the  new  members  elected  to  this  Congress  was  the 
Hon.  Benjamin  Butterworth  of  Ohio.  His  ability  as  a  law 
yer  and  his  readiness  in  debate  soon  gave  him  prominence, 
while  his  abundant  good-nature  and  inexhaustible  fund  of 
anecdotes  made  him  a  general  favorite  in  the  House.  One 
of  his  stories  was  of  a  Western  member  whose  daily  walk 
and  conversation  at  the  national  Capital  was  by  no  means 
up  to  the  orthodox  home  standard.  The  better  element  of 
his  constituents  at  length  became  disgusted,  as  reports 
derogatory  to  their  member  from  time  to  time  reached  them. 
A  bolt  in  the  approaching  Congressional  convention  was 
even  threatened,  and  altogether  serious  trouble  was  brewing. 
The  demand  was  imperative  upon  the  part  of  his  closest 
friends  that  he  at  once  come  home  and  face  his  accusers. 
Homeward  he  at  length  turned  his  footsteps,  and  was  met 
at  the  depot  by  a  large  concourse  of  his  friends  and  con 
stituents.  Hurriedly  alighting  from  the  train  and  stepping 
upon  the  platform,  with  beaming  countenance  and  heart 
made  glad  by  such  an  enthusiastic  reception,  he  thus  began : 

"Fellow-citizens,  my  heart  is  deeply  touched  as  my  eyes 
behold  this  splendid  assemblage  of  my  constituents  and  friends 
gathered  here  before  and  around  me.  During  my  absence  in 
Congress  my  friends  have  spoken  in  my  vindication.  I  am  here 
now  to  speak  for  myself.  Vile  slanders  have  been  put  in  circu 
lation  against  me.  I  have  been  accused  of  being  a  defaulter; 
I  have  been  accused  of  being  a  drunkard;  I  have  been  accused 


AGAIN  IN   CONGRESS  58 

of  being  a  gambler;  but,  thank  God,  fellow-citizens,  no  man  has 
ever  dared  to  assail  my  good  moral  character!" 

One  incident  is  rekted  by  Butterworth  of  a  judge  in  his 
State  who,  becoming  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  ease  with 
which  naturalization  papers  were  obtained,  determined  upon 
a  radical  reform.  That  the  pathway  of  the  reformer  —  along 
this  as  other  lines  —  was  by  no  means  one  of  flowers  will 
appear  from  the  sequel.  Immediately  upon  taking  his  seat, 
the  judge,  with  great  earnestness  of  manner,  announced  from 
the  bench  that  thereafter  no  applicant  could  receive  from 
that  court  his  final  papers,  entitling  him  to  the  exercise  of 
the  high  privilege  of  citizenship,  unless  he  was  able  to  read 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  A  few  mornings 
later,  Michael  O'Connor,  a  well-known  partisan  of  the  Seventh 
Ward,  appeared  in  court  accompanied  by  a  diminutive- 
looking  countryman,  Dennis  Flynn  by  name.  Mr.  O'Connor 
stated  to  the  judge  that  his  friend  Dennis  Flynn  had  already 
taken  out  his  first  papers,  and  the  legal  time  had  passed,  and 
he  now  wanted  His  Honor  to  grant  him  his  final  papers. 
With  much  solemnity  of  manner  the  judge  inquired  whether 
Mr.  Flynn  had  ever  read  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Somewhat  abashed  by  the  unusual  interrogatory, 
Mr.  O'Connor  looked  inquiringly  at  Mr.  Flynn,  at  which  the 
latter,  wholly  unconscious  of  the  purport  of  the  inquiry, 
looked  appealingly  to  Mr.  O'Connor.  The  latter  then  replied 
that  he  presumed  he  had  not,  at  which  the  judge,  handing 
the  applicant  a  copy  of  the  revised  statutes  containing  the 
Constitution,  admonished  him  to  read  it  carefully.  Mr. 
Flynn,  carrying  the  volume  in  his  arms,  and  followed  by  his 
patron,  sadly  left  the  court-room.  Just  eight  minutes 
elapsed,  the  door  suddenly  opened  and  both  reappeared, 
Mr.  O'Connor  in  front,  bearing  the  book  aloft,  and  exclaiming, 
"  Dinnie  could  n't  rade  it,  Your  Honor,  but  I  rid  it  over  to 
him,  and  he  is  parefictly  deloighted  wid  it!" 

Three  gentlemen,  each  of  whom  at  a  later  day  reached  the 
Speakership,  had  served  but  a  single  term  in  the  House  at 
the  opening  of  the  forty-sixth  Congress:  Mr.  Keifer  of  Ohio, 
Mr.  Carlisle  of  Kentucky,  and  Mr.  Reed  of  Maine.  Mr. 


54  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Keifer  was  a  gentleman  of  ability  and  of  exceedingly  courteous 
manners.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  debate,  and  was  the 
immediate  successor  of  Mr.  Randall  in  the  Chair.  After  an 
absence  of  twenty  years  he  has  again  been  returned  to  his 
seat  in  the  House. 

Few  abler  men  than  Mr.  Carlisle  have  been  in  the  public 
service.  He  was  a  recognized  leader  of  his  party  from  his 
first  appearance  in  the  House,  and  an  authority  upon  all 
questions  pertaining  to  tariff  or  finance.  During  his  long 
service  as  Speaker  he  established  an  enduring  reputation  as 
an  able  presiding  officer;  as  possessing  in  the  highest  degree 
"the  cold  neutrality  of  the  impartial  Judge."  While  a 
Senator,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland  to  the 
important  position  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  duties 
of  that  great  office  have  never  been  discharged  with  more 
signal  ability. 

Mr.  Reed  stood  alone.  He  was  unlike  other  men,  a  fact 
which  probably  caused  him  little  regret.  Self-reliant,  aggres 
sive,  of  will  indomitable,  he  was  a  political  storm  centre 
during  his  entire  public  career.  His  friends  were  devoted  to 
him,  and  he  was  never  forgotten  by  his  enemies.  Whoever 
was  brought  into  close  contact  with  him,  usually  carried 
away  an  impression  by  which  to  remember  him.  Upon  one 
occasion,  in  the  House,  when  in  sharp  debate  with  Mr. 
Springer,  the  latter  quoted  the  familiar  saying  of  Henry 
Clay,  "Sir,  I  would  rather  be  right  than  be  President." 
Mr.  Reed,  in  a  tone  far  from  reassuring,  retorted,  "The 
gentleman  from  Illinois  will  never  be  either!" 

The  retort  courteous,  however,  was  not  always  from  the 
lips  of  the  Speaker.  Mr.  Springer,  having  at  one  time  re 
peatedly  attempted,  but  in  vain,  to  secure  the  floor,  at 
length  demanded  by  what  right  he  was  denied  recognition. 
The  Speaker  intimated  that  such  ruling  was  in  accord  with 
the  high  prerogative  of  the  Chair.  To  which  Springer 
replied: 

"Oh,  it  is  excellent 

To  have  a  giant  strength;   but 't  is  tyrannous 
To  use  it  like  a  giant." 


AGAIN  IN  CONGRESS  55 

Of  immense  physical  proportions,  towering  above  his 
fellows,  with  voice  by  no  means  melodious,  a  manner  far 
from  conciliatory,  a  capacity  for  sarcastic  utterance  that 
vividly  recalled  the  days  of  John  Randolph  and  Tristram 
Burgess,  and,  withal,  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  generation, 
Mr.  Reed  was  in  very  truth  a  picturesque  figure  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  He  apparently  acted  upon  the  supposi 
tion  of  the  philosopher  Hobbes  that  war  is  the  natural  state 
of  man.  The  kindly  admonition, 

"  Mend  your  ways  a  little 
Lest  they  may  mar  your  fortunes," 

if  ever  given  him,  was  unheeded.    In  very  truth, 

"  He  stood, 

As  if  a  man  were  author  of  himself, 
And  knew  no  other  kin." 

No  man  in  his  day  was  more  talked  of  or  written  about! 
At  one  time  his  star  was  in  the  ascendant,  and  he  seemed  to 
be  on  the  highroad  to  the  Presidency.  His  great  ambition, 
however,  was  thwarted  by  those  of  his  own  political  household. 
At  the  close  of  a  turbulent  session,  while  he  was  in  the  Chair, 
the  usual  resolution  of  thanks  to  the  Speaker  "for  the  able, 
fair,  and  courteous  manner  in  which  he  had  presided"  was 
bitterly  antagonized,  and  finally  adopted  only  by  a  strictly 
party  vote.  It  was  an  event  with  a  single  antecedent  in  our 
history,  that  of  seventy-odd  years  ago,  when  the  Whig 
minority  in  the  House  opposed  the  usual  vote  of  thanks  to 
Speaker  Polk  upon  his  retirement  from  the  Chair.  In  the 
latter  case,  the  cry  of  persecution  that  was  instantly  raised 
had  much  to  do  with  Mr.  Folk's  almost  immediate  election 
to  the  Governorship  of  his  State,  and  his  subsequent  eleva 
tion  to  the  Presidency.  The  parallel  incident  in  Mr.  Reed's 
career,  however,  failed  to  prove  "the  prologue  to  the  swelling 
act." 

The  Hon.  William  McKinley,  of  Ohio,  was  a  member  of 
this  Congress.  He  was  one  of  the  most  pleasing  and  delight 
ful  of  associates,  and  my  acquaintance  with  him  was  of  the 


56  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

most  agreeable  character.  One  of  his  earliest  official  acts 
as  President  was  my  appointment  as  a  member  of  the  Bi 
metallic  Commission  to  Europe. 

Mr.  McKinley  was  in  very  truth  one  of  Fortune's  favorites: 
five  times  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
three  times  Governor  of  his  State,  and  twice  elevated  to  the 
Presidency.  He  was  the  third  of  our  Presidents  to  fall  by 
the  hand  of  an  assassin.  His  tragic  death  is  yet  fresh  in  our 
memories. 

The  last  time  I  met  President  McKinley  was  at  the  Peace 
Jubilee  Banquet  at  the  Auditorium  in  Chicago,  on  the  even 
ing  of  October  19,  1898.  On  this  occasion,  following  the 
toast  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  I  spoke  as 
follows : 

"  The  incumbent  of  this  great  office  holds  with  unchal 
lenged  title  the  most  exalted  station  known  to  men.  Mon- 
archs  rule  by  hereditary  right,  or  hold  high  place  only  by 
force  of  arms.  The  elevation  of  a  citizen  to  the-  Presidency 
of  the  United  States  is  the  deliberate  act,  under  the  forms  of 
law,  of  a  sovereign  people.  As  an  aspirant,  he  may  have 
been  the  choice  only  of  a  political  party;  as  the  incumbent  of 
the  great  office,  he  is  the  representative  of  all  the  people  — 
the  President  of  all  the  people.  It  augurs  well  for  the  future 
of  the  Republic  when  the  American  people  magnify  this 
office;  when  they  honor,  as  now,  the  President  who  has  so 
ably  upheld  its  dignity,  so  worthily  met  its  solemn  responsi 
bilities,  so  patriotically  discharged  its  exacting  and  impera 
tive  duties. 

"The  office  of  President  of  a  self-governing  people  is  unique. 
It  had  no  place  in  ancient  or  mediaeval  schemes  of  govern 
ment,  whether  despotic,  federative,  or  in  name  republican. 
It  has  in  reality  none  amongst  the  nations  of  modern  Europe. 
The  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  in  the  highest  degree, 
represents  the  majesty  of  the  law.  It  stands  for  the  unified 
authority  and  power  of  seventy-five  millions  of  free  men.  It 
typifies  what  is  most  sacred  to  our  race:  stability  in  govern 
ment  and  protection  to  liberty  and  life.  The  President  is 


WILLIAM   McKINLEY 


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SENATE  TESTIMONIAL  TO  MR.  STEVENSON  AS  PRESIDENT  OF 

SENATE 


AGAIN  IN  CONGRESS  67 

the  great  officer  to  whom  the  founders  of  the  government 
entrusted  the  delicate  and  responsible  function  of  treating 
with  foreign  States;  in  whom  was  vested  in  time  of  peace 
and  of  war,  chief  command  of  the  army  and  of  the  navy. 

"  An  eminent  writer  has  well  said:  'The,  ancient  monarchs 
of  France  reigned  and  governed;  the  Queen  of  England  reigns 
but  does  not  govern;  the  President  of  France  neither  reigns 
nor  governs;  the  President  of  the  United  States  does  not 
reign,  but  governs!' 

"  Experience  has  demonstrated  the  more  than  human 
wisdom  of  the  framers  of  the  great  federal  compact  which  for 
more  than  a  century,  in  peace  and  amid  the  stress  of  war,  has 
held  States  and  people  in  indissoluble  bond  of  union.  In 
no  part  of  their  matchless  handiwork  has  it  been  more  clearly 
manifested  than  in  the  creation  of  a  responsible  executive. 
To  secure  in  the  largest  measure  the  great  ends  of  government, 
responsibility  must  attach  to  the  executive  office;  and  of 
necessity,  with  responsibility,  power.  The  sooner  France 
learns  from  the  American  Republic  this  important  lesson, 
the  sooner  will  government  attain  with  her  the  stability  to 
which  it  is  now  a  stranger.  Her  statesmen  might  well  recall 
the  words  of  Lord  Bacon:  'What  men  will  not  alter  for  the 
better,  Time,  the  great  innovator,  will  alter  for  the  worse.' 

"The  splendid  commonwealth  in  which  we  are  assembled 
contains  a  population  a  million  greater  than  did  the  entire 
country  at  the  first  inauguration  of  President  Washing 
ton.  The  one  hundred  and  nine  years  which  have  passed 
since  that  masterful  hour  in  history  have  witnessed  the  addi 
tion  of  thirty-two  States  to  our  federal  Union,  and  of  seventy 
millions  to  our  population.  And  yet,  with  but  few  amend 
ments,  our  great  organic  law  as  fully  meets  the  requirements 
of  a  self-governing  people  to-day  as  when  it  came  from  the 
hands  of  its  framers.  The  builders  of  the  Constitution  wisely 
ordained  the  Presidential  office  a  coordinate  department  of 
the  Government.  Moving  in  its  own  clearly  defined  orbit, 
without  usurpation  or  lessening  of  prerogative,  the  great 
executive  office,  at  the  close  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  cen 
tury,  is  the  recognized  constitutional  symbol  of  authority 


58  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  of  power.  The  delegated  functions  and  prerogatives 
that  pertained  in  our  infancy  and  weakness  have  proved 
ample  in  the  days  of  our  strength  and  greatness  as  a  nation. 

"It  is  well  that  to  the  people  was  entrusted  the  sovereign 
power  of  choosing  their  chief  magistrate.  It  is  our  glory,  in 
the  retrospect  of  more  than  a  century,  that  none  other  than 
patriots— statesmen  well  equipped  for  the  discharge  of  its  tire 
less  duties— have  ever  been  chosen  to  the  Presidency.  May  we 
not  believe  that  the  past  is  the  earnest  of  the  future,  and 
that  during  the  rolling  years  and  centuries  the  incumbents 
of  the  great  office  —  the  chosen  successors  of  Washington 
and  of  Lincoln  —  in  the  near  and  in  the  remote  future,  will 
prove  the  guardians  and  defenders  of  the  Constitution,  the 
guardians  and  defenders  of  the  rights  of  all  the  people? 

44  Luminous  will  be  the  pages  of  history  that  tell  to  the  ages 
the  story  of  our  recent  conflict,  of  its  causes  and  of  its  results. 
In  brilliancy  of  achievement,  the  one  hundred  days'  war 
with  Spain  is  the  marvel  of  the  closing  century.  It  was  not 
a  war  of  our  seeking.  It  was  the  earnest  prayer  of  all,  from 
the  President  to  the  humblest  in  private  life,  that  the  horrors 
of  war  might  be  averted.  Had  our  ears  remained  deaf  to 
the  cry  of  the  stricken  and  starving  at  our  doors,  we  would 
not  have  been  guiltless  in  the  high  court  of  conscience,  and 
before  the  dread  judgment  seat  of  history.  The  plea  'Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper?'  —  whether  interposed  by  individual 
or  by  nation, —  cannot  be  heard  before  the  august  tribunal 
of  the  Almighty. 

"Justified  then,  as  we  solemnly  believe,  in  the  sight  of  God 
for  our  interposition,  we  rejoice  over  the  termination  of  a 
struggle  inwhich  our  arms  knew  no  defeat.  The  dead  hand 
of  Spain  has  been  removed  forever  from  the  throats  of  her 
helpless  victims.  Emphasizing  our  solemn  declaration  as  a 
nation  y  that  this  was  a  war  for  humanity,  not  for  self-aggran 
dizement,  we  demand  no  money  indemnity  from  the  defeated 
and  impoverished  foe. 

"The  sacrifice  of  treasure  and  of  blood  has  not  been  in 
vain.  However  it  may  have  been  in  the  past,  the  United 
States  emerges  from  the  conflict  with  Spain  a  united  people. 


AGAIN  IN  CONGRESS  59 

Sectional  lines  are  forever  obliterated.  Henceforth,  for  all 
time,  we  present  to  foreign  foe  an  unbroken  front.  In  the 
words  of  Webster:  'Our  politics  go  no  farther  than  the 
water's  edge.' 

"No  less  important  is  the  fact,  that  the  United  States  of 
America  to-day,  as  never  before,  commands  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  the  world.  No  foreign  coalition,  however 
formidable,  can  excite  our  serious  apprehension  or  alarm. 
For  all  this,  all  honor  to  our  brave  soldiers  and  sailors;  all 
honor  to  the  helpful  hands  and  sympathetic  hearts  of  Amer 
ica's  patriotic  women. 

"As  in  the  early  morning  and  in  the  noon  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  America  gave  to  the  world  its  best  lessons  in  liberty 
and  in  law,  so  in  its  closing  hours,  it  has  given  to  all  the 
nations  a  never-to-be-forgotten  lesson  in  the  dread  art  of 
war.  In  quick  response  to  the  splendid  achievements  of 
American  valor  comes  from  across  the  sea  the  startling  pro 
posal  of  despotic  Russia  for  the  disarmament  of  continental 
Europe  —  and  in  the  end  universal  peace. 

"Thankful  to  God  for  all  he  has  vouchsafed  to  us  in  the 
past,  and  with  the  prayer  that  henceforth  peace  may  be  the 
priceless  boon  of  all  nations,  we  await  the  dawn  of  the  new 
century,  and  turn  our  faces  hopefully  to  the  future." 


IV 
THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY 

ELECTION,  POWERS,  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  VICE-PRESIDENT  — 
NAMES  AND  DATES  OF  ALL  THE  VICE-PRESIDENTS  —  FOUR  WHO 
BECAME  PRESIDENTS  BY  ELECTION  —  FIVE  WHO  SUCCEEDED 

UPON  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  PRESIDENT ATTEMPTS  TO  SECURE 

THE  IMPEACHMENT  OF  PRESIDENTS  —  THE  TWELFTH  AMEND 
MENT  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION  —  REMARKS  ON  SOME  OF  THE 
VICE-PRESIDENTS  —  THE  WRITER'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS  TO 
THE  SENATE. 

BY  the  provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States  is  elected  at  the  same  time, 
for  the  same  term,  and  in  like  manner  as  the  President  — 
by  electors  chosen  in  each  of  the  States.  A  majority  of  the 
votes  cast  in  the  several  electoral  colleges  is  necessary  to  an 
election.  The  Vice-President  is  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
and  in  the  event  of  an  equal  division  in  that  body,  he  gives 
the  deciding  vote.  Under  no  other  contingency  has  he  a  vote. 
The  powers  and  duties  of  the  office  of  President  devolve  upon 
the  Vice-President  in  case  of  the  death,  resignation,  or  re 
moval  from  office  of  the  President.  The  Vice-President  is 
included  in  the  list  of  public  officers  liable  to  removal  from 
office  on  impeachment,  on  conviction  for  treason,  bribery,  or 
other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  By  the  twelfth  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible 
to  the  office  of  President  can  be  elected  to  that  of  Vice-Presi 
dent.  In  the  event  of  a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  office  of 
Vice-President,  the  Senate  is  presided  over  by  a  member  of 
that  body.  In  such  contingency  the  death  of  the  President 
would,  under  existing  law,  devolve  the  office  of  President 
upon  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Twenty-seven  persons  have  held  the  office  of  Vice-Presi 
dent;  the  dates  of  their  respective  elections  are  as  follows: 
John  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  in  1788,  reflected  in  1792; 
Thomas  Jefferson  of  Virginia,  in  1796;  Aaron  Burr  of  New 

60 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  61 

York,  in  1800;  George  Clinton  of  New  York,  in  1804,  reflected 
in  1808;  Elbridge  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  in  1812;  Daniel  D. 
Tompkins  of  New  York,  in  1816,  reflected  in  1820;  John  C. 
Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  in  1824,  reflected  in  1828;  Martin 
Van  Buren  of  New  York,  in  1832;  Richard  M.  Johnson  of  Ken 
tucky,  in  1836;  John  Tyler  of  Virginia,  in  1840;  George  M. 
Dallas  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1844;  Millard  Fillmore  of  New 
York,  in  1848;  William  R.  King  of  Alabama,  in  1852;  John  C. 
Breckenridge  of  Kentucky,  in  1856;  Hannibal  Hamlin  of 
Maine,  in  1860;  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  in  1864;  Schuy- 
ler  Coif  ax  of  Indiana,  in  1868;  Henry  Wilson  of  Massachu 
setts,  in  1872;  WiUiam  A.  Wheeler  of  New  York,  in  1876; 
Chester  A.  Arthur  of  New  York,  in  1880;  Thomas  A.  Hen- 
dricks  of  Indiana,  in  1884;  Levi  P.  Morton  of  New  York, 
in  1888;  Adlai  E.  Stevenson  of  Illinois,  in  1892;  Garrett  A. 
Hobart  of  New  Jersey,  in  1896;  Theodore  Roosevelt  of  New 
York,  in  1900;  Charles  W.  Fairbanks  of  Indiana,  in  1904; 
James  S.  Sherman  of  New  York,  in  1908. 

Four  Vice-Presidents  were  subsequently  elected  Presi 
dents,  namely:  John  Adams  in  1796;  Thomas  Jefferson  in 
1800  and  1804;  Martin  Van  Buren  in  1836;  and  Theodore 
Roosevelt  in  1904.  The  dates  given  have  reference  to  the  elec 
tion  by  vote  of  the  electors  in  the  several  States  by  whom  the 
President  and  Vice-President  were  subsequently  chosen. 
Six  Vice-Presidents  died  in  office:  namely,  Clinton,  Gerry, 
King,  Wilson,  Hendricks,  and  Hobart.  In  the  Presidential 
contest  of  1836,  Martin  Van  Buren  received  a  majority  of 
the  electoral  votes  for  President,  but  no  candidate  received  a 
majority  for  Vice-President.  By  Constitutional  requirement 
the  duty  of  electing  a  Vice-President  then  devolved  upon  the 
Senate,  the  candidates  from  whom  such  choice  was  to  be 
made  being  restricted  to  the  two  who  had  received  the  highest 
number  of  electoral  votes.  One  of  these,  Richard  M.  John 
son  of  Kentucky,  was  duly  elected  by  the  Senate.  The  only 
Vice-President  who  resigned  the  office  was  John  C.  Calhoun. 
This  occurred  in  1832,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  soon  thereafter  took 
his  seat  in  the  Senate,  to  which  body  he  had  been  elected  by 
the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina. 


62  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Five  Vice-Presidents  have,  upon  the  death  of  the  Presi 
dent,  succeeded  to  the  Presidency.  The  first  President  to 
die  during  his  incumbency  of  the  great  office,  was  William 
Henry  Harrison.  His  death  occurred  April  4,  1841,  just 
one  month  after  his  inauguration.  The  Vice-President, 
John  Tyler,  then  at  his  country  home  in  Virginia,  was  offi 
cially  notified  of  the  event,  and  upon  reaching  the  seat  of 
Government  at  once  took  the  oath  of  office  as  President. 
There  was  much  discussion  for  a  time  in  and  out  of  Congress 
as  to  his  proper  title,  whether  " Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  acting  as  President,"  or  "President."  The  language 
of  the  Constitution  however,  is  clear,  and  it  is  no  longer  con 
troverted  that  upon  the  death  of  the  President  the  Vice-Pres 
ident  becomes,  in  name  as  in  fact,  President.  Upon  the 
death  of  President  Zachary  Taylor,  July  9,  1850,  Vice-Presi 
dent  Millard  Fillmore  succeeded  to  the  Presidency,  and  was 
at  a  later  date  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  election  to  that 
office.  The  third  Vice-President  who  reached  the  Presidency 
by  succession  was  Andrew  Johnson;  this  occurred  April  15, 
1865,  the  day  following  the  assassination  of  President  Lin 
coln.  President  Garfield  was  shot  July  2,  1881,  and  died  in 
September  of  that  year,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Vice- 
President  Chester  A.  Arthur.  Vice-President  Roosevelt 
was  the  successor  of  President  McKinley,  who  died  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin  in  September,  1901. 

Two  attempts  have  been  made  to  secure  the  impeach 
ment  of  Presidents,  the  incumbent  in  each  instance  having 
been  elected  Vice-President  and  succeeded  to  the  higher  office 
upon  the  death  of  the  President.  A  resolution  looking  to  the 
impeachment  of  President  Tyler  was  introduced  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  January,  1843,  but  was  defeated, 
and  no  further  steps  were  taken.  Articles  of  impeachment,  for 
"high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,"  were  presented  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  against  President  Johnson  in  1868. 
By  constitutional  provision  the  trial  was  by  the  Senate,  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  presiding.  Less  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  Senators  voting  for  conviction,  he  was  acquitted. 

Until  the  adoption  of  the  twelfth  amendment,  no  Constitu- 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  <J8 

tional  provision  existed  for  separate  votes  in  the  electoral 
colleges  for  President  and  Vice-President;  the  candidate 
receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes  (if  a  majority  of  all) 
became  President,  and  the  one  receiving  the  second  highest, 
Vice-President.  In  1801,  Jefferson  and  Burr  each  received 
seventy-three  electoral  votes,  and  by  Constitutional  require 
ment  the  election  at  once  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  voting  by  States.  On  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  a 
majority  of  the  States  voting  for  Jefferson,  he  became  Presi 
dent,  and  Burr,  Vice-President.  The  Constitutional  amend 
ment  above  indicated,  by  which  separate  ballots  were  required 
in  the  electoral  colleges  for  each  office,  was  the  result  of  the 
intense  excitement  throughout  the  country  engendered  by 
this  contest.  The  earnest  opposition  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
to  Aaron  Burr  in  the  above-mentioned  contest,  was  the  prime 
cause  of  the  duel  by  which  Hamilton  lost  his  life  at  the  hands 
of  Burr  in  1804. 

George  Clinton,  the  fourth  Vice-President,  had  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Continental  Congress  voted  for  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  held  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General  during 
the  War  of  the  Revolution.  The  fifth  Vice-President,  Elbridge 
Gerry,  had  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1787.  William  R.  King,  elected  in  1852,  by 
reason  of  ill  health  never  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  his  office.  By  special  act  of  Congress,  the  oath  of 
office  was  administered  to  him  in  Cuba  and  his  death  occurred 
soon  thereafter.  Of  the  twenty-seven  Vice-Presidents  thus 
far  elected,  ten  have  been  from  the  State  of  New  York. 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  the  first  and  second  Vice-Presidents, 
rendered  valuable  service  to  the  young  Republic  at  foreign 
courts;  each  by  election  was  elevated  to  the  Presidency;  and 
their  deaths  occurred  upon  the  same  historic  Fourth  of  July, 
just  fifty  years  from  the  day  they  had  signed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence. 

A  marble  bust  of  each  of  the  Vice-Presidents  has  been 
placed  in  the  gallery  of  the  Senate  Chamber.  The  office  of 
Vice-President  is  one  of  great  dignity.  He  is  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  most  august  legislative  assembly  known  to  men. 


64  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

In  the  event  of  an  equal  division  in  the  Senate,  he  gives  the 
deciding  vote.  This  vote,  many  times  in  our  history,  has 
been  one  of  deep  significance.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that 
the  contingency  may  often  occur  when  the  Vice-President 
becomes  an  important  factor  in  matters  of  legislation. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  writer's  retirement  from  office, 
March  4,  1897,  he  delivered  the  following  farewell  address 
before  the  Senate: 

"  Sena  tors:  The  hour  has  arrived  which  marks  the  close 
of  the  fifty-fourth  Congress,  and  terminates  my  official  rela 
tion  to  this  body. 

"Before  laying  down  the  gavel  for  the  last  time,  I  may  be 
pardoned  for  detaining  you  for  a  moment,  in  the  attempt  to 
give  expression  to  my  gratitude  for  the  uniform  courtesy 
extended  me,  for  the  many  kindnesses  shown  me,  during  the 
time  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  preside  over  your  deliber 
ations.  My  appreciation  of  the  Resolution  of  the  Senate  per 
sonal  to  myself,  can  find  no  adequate  expression  in  words. 
Intentionally,  I  have  at  no  time  given  offence;  and  I  carry 
from  this  presence  no  shadow  of  feeling  of  unkindness  toward 
any  Senator,  no  memory  of  any  grievance. 

"Chief  among  the  favors  political  fortune  has  bestowed 
upon  me,  I  count  that  of  having  been  the  associate  —  and 
known  something  of  the  friendship  —  of  the  men  with  whom 
I  have  so  long  held  official  relation  in  this  chamber.  To 
have  been  the  presiding  officer  of  this  august  body  is  an  honor 
of  which  even  the  most  illustrious  citizen  might  be  proud. 
I  am  persuaded  that  no  occupant  of  this  Chair,  during  the 
one  hundred  and  eight  years  of  our  Constitutional  history, 
ever  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  pertaining  to 
this  office  more  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  respon 
sibilities  imposed,  or  with  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  char 
acter  and  dignity  of  the  great  Legislative  Assembly. 

"During  the  term  just  closing,  questions  of  deep  import 
to  political  parties  and  to  the  country  have  here  found  earnest 
and  at  times  passionate  discussion.  This  Chamber  has  indeed 
been  the  arena  of  great  debate.  The  record  of  four  years  of 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  65 

parliamentary  struggles,  of  masterful  debates,  of  important 
legislation,  is  closed,  and  passes  now  to  the  domain  of  history. 
"I  think  I  can  truly  say,  in  the  words  of  a  distinguished 
predecessor,  'In  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I  have 
known  no  cause,  no  party,  no  friend/  It  has  been  my  earnest 
endeavor  justly  to  interpret,  and  faithfully  to  execute,  the 
rules  of  the  Senate.  At  times  the  temptation  may  be  strong 
to  compass  partisan  ends  by  a  disregard  or  a  perversion  of  the 
rules.  Yet,  I  think  it  safe  to  say,  the  result,  however  salu 
tary,  will  be  dearly  purchased  by  a  departure  from  the  method 
prescribed  by  the  Senate  for  its  own  guidance.  A  single 
instance  as  indicated,  might  prove  the  forerunner  of  untold 
evils. 

' '  T  will  be  recorded  for  a  precedent, 

And  many  an  error  by  the  same  example 

Will  rush  into  the  State.' 

"It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  rules  governing  this 
body  are  founded  deep  in  human  experience;  that  they  are 
the  result  of  centuries  of  tireless  effort  in  legislative  hall,  to 
conserve,  to  render  stable  and  secure,  the  rights  and  liberties 
which  have  been  achieved  by  conflict.  By  its  rules,  the 
Senate  wisely  fixes  the  limits  to  its  own  power.  Of  those  who 
clamor  against  the  Senate  and  its  mode  of  procedure  it  may 
be  truly  said,  'They  know  not  what  they  do.'  In  this  Cham 
ber  alone  are  preserved,  without  restraint,  two  essentials  of 
wise  legislation  and  of  good  government  —  the  right  of  amend 
ment  and  of  debate.  Great  evils  often  result  from  hasty 
legislation,  rarely  from  the  delay  which  follows  full  discussion 
and  deliberation.  In  my  humble  judgment,  the  historic 
Senate,  preserving  the  unrestricted  right  of  amendment  and 
of  debate,  maintaining  intact  the  time-honored  parliamentary 
methods  and  amenities  which  unfailingly  secure  action  after 
deliberation,  possesses  in  our  scheme  of  government  a  value 
which  can  not  be  measured  by  words.  The  Senate  is  a  per 
petual  body.  In  the  terse  words  of  an  eminent  Senator  now 
present:  'The  men  who  framed  the  Constitution  had  studied 
thoroughly  all  former  attempts  at  Republican  government. 
History  was  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  unsuccessful  democra- 


66  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

cies.  Sometimes  the  usurpation  of  the  executive  power, 
sometimes  the  fickleness  and  unbridled  license  of  the  people, 
had  brought  popular  governments  to  destruction.  To  guard 
against  these  dangers,  they  placed  their  chief  hope  in  the 
Senate.  The  Senate  which  was  organized  in  1789,  at  the 
inauguration  of  the  Government,  abides  and  will  continue  to 
abide,  one  and  the  same  body,  until  the  Republic  itself  shall 
be  overthrown,  or  time  shall  be  no  more.' 

"  Twenty-four  Senators  who  have  occupied  seats  in  this 
Chamber  during  my  term  of  office  are  no  longer  members 
of  this  body.  Five  of  that  number  —  Stanford,  Colquitt, 
Vance,  Stockbridge,  and  Wilson  —  'shattered  with  the  conten 
tions  of  the  Great  Hall/  full  of  years  and  of  honors  have 
passed  from  earthly  scenes.  The  fall  of  the  gavel  will  con 
clude  the  long  and  honorable  terms  of  service  of  other  Sena 
tors,  who  will  be  borne  in  kind  remembrance  by  their  asso 
ciates  who  remain. 

"I  would  do  violence  to  my  feelings  if  I  failed  to  express 
my  thanks  to  the  officers  of  this  body  for  the  fidelity  with 
which  they  have  discharged  their  important  duties,  and  for 
the  kindly  assistance  and  unfailing  courtesy  of  which  I  have 
been  the  recipient. 

"For  the  able  and  distinguished  gentleman  who  succeeds 
me  as  your  presiding  officer,  I  earnestly  invoke  the  same 
cooperation  and  courtesy  which  you  have  so  generously  ac 
corded  me. 

"Senators,  my  parting  words  have  been  spoken,  and  I 
now  discharge  my  last  official  duty,  that  of  declaring  the 
Senate  adjourned  without  day." 


V 

THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

DIFFICULTY  OF  FORMULATING    A    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION  —  THE 
CONVENTION  OF    1787   SEES  THE   NECESSITY  FOR   A   GENERAL 

GOVERNMENT   WITH    PLENARY    POWERS JEALOUSY    OF    THE 

SMALLER  TOWARD  THE  LARGER  STATES  —  BRITISH  PARLIA 
MENT  TAKEN,  WITH  QUALIFICATIONS,  AS  THE  MODEL  FOR  THE 
HOUSES  OF  CONGRESS  —  EQUAL  STATE  REPRESENTATION  IN 
THE  SENATE  NON-EXISTENCE  OF  ANY  METHOD  FOR  TERMI 
NATING  DEBATES  IN  THE  SENATE POTENCY  OF  THE  PRESI 
DENT'S  VETO ABUSE  OF  THE  CLOTURE  IN  THE  HOUSE  — 

PROCEDURE  IN  THE  EVENT  OF  THE  FAILURE  OF  THE  PEOPLE 
TO  ELECT  A  PRESIDENT  OR  A  VICE-PRESIDENT  —  THE  HAYES- 

TILDEN    CONTEST DANGER    OF    USURPATION    OF    POWER    BY 

THE  EXECUTIVE  —  THE  SENATE  AS  A  HIGH  COURT  OF  IMPEACH 
MENT —  TRIAL  OF  CHASE  OF  MARYLAND  —  TRIAL  OF  BELKNAP, 
SECRETARY  OF  WAR TRIAL  OF  PRESIDENT  JOHNSON. 

IT  is  a  well-known  fact  in  our  political  history  that  the 
convention  which  formulated  our  Federal  Constitution 

greatly  exceeded  the  powers  delegated  to  its  members  by 
their  respective  States.  It  was  the  supreme  moment,  and 
upon  the  action  of  the  historic  assemblage  depended  events 
of  far-reaching  consequence.  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  the  enduring  monument  to  the  courage,  the 
forecast,  the  wisdom  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  of 
1787.  It  was  theirs  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot,  to  break  with 
the  past,  and,  regardless  of  the  jealousies  and  antagonisms 
of  individual  States,  to  establish  the  more  perfect  union, 
which  has  been  declared  by  an  eminent  British  statesman 
"the  greatest  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  from  the 
brain  and  purpose  of  man." 

The  oft-quoted  expression  of  Gladstone  is,  however,  more 
rhetorical  than  accurate.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  not  "struck  off  at  a  given  time,"  but  as  declared 
by  Bancroft,  "the  materials  for  its  building  were  the  gifts 
of  the  ages."  In  the  words  of  Lieber,  "What  the  ancients 

67 


68  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

said  of  the  avenging  gods,  that  they  were  shod  with  wool, 
is  true  of  great  ideas  in  government.  They  approach  slowly. 
Great  truths  dwell  a  long  time  with  small  minorities." 

The  period  following  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Brit 
ain  in  1783,  which  terminated  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
has  been  not  inaptly  designated  "the  critical  period  of  Ameri 
can  history."  The  Revolutionary  Government,  under  which 
Washington  had  been  chosen  to  the  chief  command  of  the 
colonial  forces,  the  early  battles  fought,  and  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  promulgated,  had  been  superseded  in  1781 
by  a  Government  created  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 
The  latter  Government,  while  in  a  vital  sense  a  mere  rope  of 
sand,  was  a  long  step  in  the  right  direction;  the  earnest  of  the 
more  perfect  union  yet  to  follow. 

Under  the  Government,  more  shadowy  than  real,  thus 
created,  the  closing  battles  of  the  Revolution  were  fought, 
independence  achieved,  a  treaty  of  peace  concluded,  and  our 
recognition  as  a  sovereign  Republic  obtained  from  our  late 
antagonist  and  other  European  nations. 

The  Articles  of  Confederation,  submitted  for  ratification 
by  the  Colonial  Congress  to  the  individual  States  while  the 
country  was  yet  in  the  throes  of  a  doubtful  struggle,  fell  far 
short  of  establishing  what  in  even  crude  form  could  properly 
be  designated  a  Government.  The  Confederation  was  wholly 
lacking  in  one  essential  of  all  Governments:  the  power  to 
execute  its  own  decrees.  Its  avowed  purpose  was  to  estab 
lish  "a  firm  league  of  friendship,"  or,  as  the  name  indicates, 
a  mere  confederation  of  the  colonies.  The  parties  to  this 
league  were  independent  political  communities,  and  by  express 
terms,  each  State  was  to  retain  all  rights,  sovereignty,  and 
jurisdiction  not  expressly  delegated  to  the  Confederation. 
In  a  Congress  consisting  of  a  single  House  were  vested  the 
powers  thus  grudgingly  conferred.  Its  members  were  to 
be  chosen  by  the  States  as  such;  upon  every  question  the 
vote  was  given  by  the  States,  each,  regardless  of  population, 
having  but  a  single  vote.  The  revenues  and  the  regulation 
of  foreign  commerce  were  to  remain  under  the  control  of 
the  respective  States,  and  no  provision  was  made  for  borrow- 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  69 

ing  money  for  the  necessary  maintenance  of  the  general 
Government.  In  a  word,  in  so  far  as  a  Government  at  all, 
it  was  in  the  main  one  of  independent  States,  and  in  no  sense 
that  with  which  we  are  familiar,  a  Government  of  the  entire 
people.  Whatever  existed  of  executive  power  was  in  a  com 
mittee  of  the  Congress;  the  only  provision  for  meeting  the 
expenses  of  the  late  war  and  the  interest  upon  the  public 
debt  was  by  requisition  upon  the  States,  with  no  shadow  of 
power  for  its  enforcement. 

Under  the  conditions  briefly  mentioned,  with  the  United 
States  of  America  a  byword  among  the  nations,  the  now 
historic  Convention  of  1787  assembled  in  Philadelphia,  in 
the  room  where  eleven  years  earlier  had  been  promulgated 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  consisted  of  fifty-five 
members;  and  without  a  dissenting  voice,  Washington,  a 
delegate  from  Virginia,  was  elected  its  President.  Not  the 
least  of  his  public  services  was  now  to  be  rendered  in  the 
work  of  safeguarding  the  fruits  of  successful  revolution  by  a 
stable  Government.  Chief  among  the  associates  with  whom 
he  was  daily  in  earnest,  anxious  counsel  in  the  great  assem 
blage,  were  men  whose  names  live  with  his  in  history.  If 
Franklin,  Wilson,  Sherman,  King,  Randolph,  Rutledge. 
Mason,  Pinckney,  Hamilton,  Madison,  and  their  associates 
had  rendered  no  public  service  other  than  as  builders  of  the 
Constitution,  that  alone  would  entitle  them  to  the  measure 
less  gratitude  of  all  future  generations  of  their  countrymen. 

When  they  were  assembled,  the  startling  fact  was  at 
once  apparent  that,  under  the  Confederation,  with  its  con 
stituent  States  at  times  in  almost  open  hostility  to  one 
another,  the  country  was  gradually  drifting  into  a  condition 
of  anarchy. 

It  is  our  glory  to-day,  and  will  be  that  of  countless  on 
coming  generations,  that  the  men  of  '87  were  equal  to  the 
stupendous  emergency.  Regardless  of  instructions,  expressed 
or  implied,  the  master  spirits  of  the  Convention,  looking  be 
yond  local  prejudices  and  State  environment,  and  appealing 
to  time  for  vindication,  with  a  ken  that  now  seems  more  than 
human,  discerned  the  safety,  the  well-being,  the  glory  of 


70  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

their  countrymen,  bound  up  in  a  general  Government  of 
plenary  powers,  a  Government  "  without  a  seam  in  its  gar 
ment,  to  foreign  nations." 

To  this  end  the  proposition  submitted  by  Paterson  of 
New  Jersey,  in  the  early  sittings  of  the  Convention,  for  a 
mere  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  Confederation,  was 
decisively  rejected.  With  the  light  that  could  be  gleaned 
from  the  pages  of  Montesquieu,  the  suggestive  lessons  to  be 
drawn  from  the  fate  of  the  short-lived  republics  whose  wrecks 
lay  along  the  pathway  of  history,  and  from  the  unwritten 
Constitution  of  the  mother  country,  as  their  only  guides,  the 
leaders  of  the  Convention  were  at  once  in  the  difficult  role 
of  constructive  statesmen.  The  Herculean  task  to  which 
with  unwearied  effort  they  now  addressed  themselves  was 
that  of  "builders"  of  the  Constitution;  the  establishers,  for 
the  ages,  of  the  fundamental  law  for  a  free  people. 

One  of  the  perils  which  early  beset  the  Convention,  and 
whose  spectre  haunted  its  deliberations  till  the  close,  was  the 
hostility  engendered  by  the  dread  and  jealousy  of  the  smaller 
toward  the  larger  States.  This  fact  will  in  some  measure 
explain  what  in  later  years  have  been  denominated  the  anoma 
lies  of  the  Constitution.  To  a  correct  understanding  of  the 
motives  of  the  builders,  and  an  appreciation  of  their  mar 
vellous  accomplishment,  it  must  "not  be  forgotten  that  "the 
foundations  of  the  Constitution  were  laid  in  compromise." 
The  men  of  '87  had  but  recently  emerged  from  the  bloody 
conflict  through  which  they  had  escaped  the  domination  of 
kingly  power.  With  the  tyranny  of  George  the  Third  yet 
burning  in  their  memories,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  the 
Revolutionary  patriots  of  the  less  populous  -States  were  loath 
to  surrender  rights,  deemed,  by  them,  secure  under  their  local 
governments;  that  they  dreaded  the  establishment  of  what 
they  apprehended  might  prove  an  overshadowing  —  possibly 
unlimited  —  central  authority. 

The  creation  of  a  general  Government,  with  its  three 
separate  and  measurably  independent  departments,  happily 
concluded,  with  the  delegated  powers  of  each  distinctly  enu 
merated,  the  salient  question  as  to  the  basis  of  representation 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  71 

» 

in  the  Congress  at  once  pressed  for  determination.  Upon 
the  question  of  provision  for  a  chief  executive,  and  his  invest 
ment  with  the  powers  necessarily  incident  to  the  great  office, 
there  was  after  much  debate  a  practical  consensus  of  opinion. 
And  practical  unanimity  in  the  end  prevailed  regarding  the 
judicial  department,  with  its  great  court  without  a  prototype 
at  its  creation,  and  even  yet  without  a  counterpart  in  foreign 
Governments. 

The  rock  upon  which  the  Convention  barely  escaped 
early  dissolution,  was  the  basis  of  representation  in  the  Con 
gress  created  under  the  great  coordinate  legislative  departr 
ment.  The  model  for  our  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  was  unquestionably  the  British  Parliament.  This 
statement  is  to  be  taken  with  weighty  qualifications;  for 
hereditary  or  ecclesiastical  representation,  as  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  is  wholly  unknown  in  our  system  of  government. 
The  significant  resemblance  is  that  of  our  Lower  House  to 
the  British  Commons.  In  these  respective  chambers,  the 
people,  as  such,  have  representation. 

The  earnest,  at  times  violent,  contention  of  the  smaller 
States,  in  our  historic  Convention,  was  for  equal  represen 
tation  in  both  branches  of  the  proposed  national  legislature. 
This  was  strenuously  resisted  by  the  larger  States  under  the 
powerful  leadership  of  Madison  of  Virginia,  and  Wilson  of 
Pennsylvania.  Their  equally  earnest,  and  by  no  means 
illogical  contention  was  for  popular  representation  in  each 
House,  as  outlined  in  the  Virginia  plan  which  had  been 
taken  as  the  framework  of  the  proposed  Constitution.  The 
opposing  views  appeared  wholly  irreconcilable,  and  for  a 
time  the  parting  of  the  ways  seemed  to  have  been  reached. 
Threats  of  dissolution  were  not  uncommon  in  the  Chamber, 
and  for  many  days  the  spirit  of  despair  brooded  over  the 
Convention.  A  delegate  from  Maryland  vehemently  de 
clared:  "The  Convention  is  on  the  verge  of  dissolution, 
scarcely  held  together  by  the  strength  of  a  hair."  Well  has 
it  been  said:  "In  even  the  contemplation  of  the  fearful 
consequence  of  such  a  calamity,  the  imagination  stands 
aghast." 


72  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

At  the  crucial  moment  mentioned,  Sherman  and  Ells 
worth  presented  upon  behalf  of  Connecticut  the  first  and 
most  far-reaching  of  the  great  compromises  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  Connecticut  plan  was  in  brief  to  the  effect  that  in 
fixing  the  ratio  of  representation  there  should  be  recognition 
alike  of  the  federal  and  of  the  national  feature  in  government, 
in  a  word,  that  in  the  Lower  House  the  national,  and  in  the 
upper  the  federal  principle  should  have  full  recognition.  This 
was  a  departure  from  the  Virginia  plan  to  the  extent  that  it 
in  effect  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  federal  republic,  — 
in  the  concrete,  that  the  House  should  be  composed  of  repre 
sentatives  chosen  directly  by  the  people  from  districts  of 
equal  population;  while  representation  in  the  Senate  should 
be  that  of  the  States,  each,  regardless  of  population,  to 
have  two  members,  to  be  chosen  at  stated  periods  by  their 
respective  legislatures. 

After  heated  debate,  this  compromise  was  carried  by  a 
bare  majority,  and  the  provision  for  popular  representation 
in  the  House,  and  equal  State  representation  in  the  Senate, 
became  engrafted  upon  our  Federal  Constitution.  This 
feature,  an  eminent  foreign  writer  has  declared,  "is  the  chief 
American  contribution  to  the  common  treasures  of  political 
civilization. "  The  eminent  writer,  De  Tocqueville,  has  well 
said:  "The  principle  of  the  independence  of  the  States 
triumphed  in  the  formation  of  the  Senate,  and  that  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  nation  in  the  composition  of  the  House 
of  Representatives." 

The  success  of  the  Connecticut  plan  made  possible  that 
of  other  essential  compromises  which  followed;  and  the 
result  was,  as  the  sublime  consummation  of  wise  deliberation 
and  patriotic  concession,  the  establishment  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  the  proud  boast  of  the  Briton,  that  "the  British 
Constitution  has  no  single  date  from  which  its  duration  is  to 
be  reckoned,  and  that  the  origin  of  English  law  is  as  undis- 
coverable  as  that  of  the  Nile."  Our  Government,  buttressed 
upon  a  written  Constitution  of  enumerated  and  logically 
implied  powers,  had  its  historic  beginning  upon  that  master- 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  73 

ful  day,  April  30,  1789,  when  Washington  took  solemn  oath 
of  office  as  our  first  President. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  has  been  truly  declared 
"the  greatest  deliberative  body  known  to  men."  By  Con 
stitutional  provision  it  consists  of  two  members  from  each 
State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof,  for  the  term  of  six 
years.  No  person  has  the  legal  qualification  for  Senator 
"unless  he  shall  have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  be 
an  inhabitant  of  the  State  for  which  he  is  chosen,  and  have 
been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States."  No  State, 
without  its  consent,  can  ever  be  deprived,  even  by  Con 
stitutional  amendment,  of  its  equal  representation  in  the 
Senate.  Nevada  with  a  population  of  less  than  forty 
thousand  has  her  equal  voice  with  New  York  with 
a  population  exceeding  seven  million.  This  anomaly 
was  occasioned  by  concession  by  the  larger  to  the 
smaller  States  in  the  Convention  of  1787,  a  conces 
sion  which  made  possible  the  establishment  of  the  federal 
Union. 

One  essential  difference  between  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  and  the  Senate  is  that  to  the  latter  "the  previous  ques 
tion  "  is  unknown;  no  method  existing  for  terminating  debate, 
other  than  by  unanimous  consent.  Here,  unlimited  dis 
cussion  and  amendment  can  have  their  perfect  work.  Within 
the  last  three  or  four  decades  many  fruitless  attempts  have 
been  made  to  introduce  a  modified  "previous  question"  or 
doture,  by  which  the  Senate  could  be  brought  to  an  immediate 
vote.  At  first  blush  such  change  might  seem  desirable,  but 
experience  has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  the  method  to 
which  there  has  been  such  steady  adherence.  It  secures 
time  for  consideration  and  full  discussion  upon  every  ques 
tion.  In  the  end  the  vote  will  be  taken.  Debate  is  rarely 
prolonged  beyond  reasonable  limit.  Not  infrequently  the 
public  welfare  is  imperilled  by  too  much,  rather  than  too 
little,  legislation.  It  was  the  belief  of  Jefferson  that  govern 
ment  should  touch  the  citizen  at  the  fewest  possible  points. 
The  quaint  lines  of  the  old  English  poet  have  lost  nothing  of 
their  significance: 


74  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE    KNOWN 

"  How  small,  of  all  that  human  hearts  endure, 
That  part  which  laws  or  kings  can  cause  or  cure!" 

The  House  of  Representatives  has  in  large  degree  ceased 
to  be  a  deliberative  body.  Under  the  iron  rule  of  the  "pre 
vious  question"  measures  of  importance  are  hurriedly  passed 
without  the  possibility  of  discussion  or  amendment.  The 
rights  of  the  minority  are  at  times  but  as  the  dust  in  the 
balance. 

Unlike  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Senate  is  in  reality  an 
important  factor  in  legislation.  As  is  well  known  in  recent 
years,  government  in  Great  Britain  is  virtually  that  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  in  large  measure  through  a  cabinet 
practically  of  its  own  appointment.  The  King  is  little  more 
than  a  ceremonial  figure-head,  and  the  House  of  Lords  is 
almost  in  a  death  struggle  for  existence.  The  end  would 
probably  come  by  serious  attempt  upon  its  part  to  thwart 
the  popular  will  as  expressed  through  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  power  of  Edward  the  Seventh  is  but  a  shadow  of  that 
exercised  almost  without  let  or  hindrance  by  the  predecessors 
of  Queen  Victoria.  The  veto  power,  so  potent  an  instru 
mentality  in  the  hands  of  the  American  President,  is  to  all 
intents  a  dead  letter  in  the  mythical  British  Constitution. 
For  a  century  and  a  half  it  has  remained  in  practical  abey 
ance.  It  is  believed  that  its  attempted  exercise  at  this  day- 
would  produce  revolution;  possibly  endanger  the  existence  of 
the  throne. 

By  means  of  what  is  known  as  a  suspension  of  the  rules, 
under  the  operation  of  the  " previous  question,"  much  im 
portant  legislation  is  enacted  in  our  House  of  Representatives, 
without  the  minority  having  the  privilege  of  debate,  or  amend 
ment,  or  even  the  necessary  time  to  a  full  understanding  of 
the  pending  measure.  The  constantly  recurring  "  River  and 
Harbor  Bill,"  with  its  enormous  sum  total  of  appropriations, 
is  a  striking  object  lesson  of  the  vicious  character  of  such 
methods. 

In  the  light  of  what  has  been  suggested,  the  wisdom  dis 
played  in  the  establishment  of  the  bicameral,  or  two-chamber 
system,  in  our  legislative  scheme,  is  strikingly  apparent. 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  75 

At  the  time  of  its  creation,  it  had  no  counterpart  in  any  of 
the  Governments  of  continental  Europe.  Its  only  prototype, 
in  so  far  as  it  was  such,  was  the  British  House  of  Lords  as 
already  indicated. 

Save  only  in  the  right  to  originate  revenue  bills,  the  power 
of  the  Senate  is  concurrent  with  that  of  the  House  in  all 
matters  of  legislation;  and  these  are  wisely  subject  to  amend 
ment  by  the  Senate.  The  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  is 
the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  and  in  his  absence 
,a  Senator  chosen  as  President  pro  tempore. 

In  the  event  of  a  failure  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  elect 
a  President  or  a  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  through 
electors  duly  appointed  at  the  stated  time,  the  duty  of  such 
election  devolves  upon  the  House  and  the  Senate  acting  in 
dependently  of  each  other.  The  choice  of  President  is  limited 
to  the  three  candidates  who  have  received  the  highest  number 
of  votes  in  the  several  electoral  colleges.  The  determination 
is  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  vote  being  by  States. 
In  such  event  the  vote  of  Nevada  would  again  count  equally 
with  that  of  New  York.  In  the  contingency  mentioned,  of 
a  failure  to  elect  a  Vice-President,  the  election  devolves  upon 
the  Senate,  each  Senator  having  a  personal  vote;  and  the 
person  chosen  must  by  Constitutional  requirement  be  one 
of  the  two  receiving  the  highest  number  of  electoral  votes. 
In  1836,  Mr.  Van  Buren  of  New  York  received  a  majority  of 
the  electoral  votes  for  President;  but  no  person  receiving 
a  majority  for  the  second  office,  Colonel  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
of  Kentucky,  one  of  the  two  persons  eligible,  was  chosen  by 
the  Senate.  No  similar  instance  has  occurred  in  our  history. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1800,  and  hi  that  of  1824, 
the  ultimate  determination  was  by  the  House  of  Represent 
atives.  In  the  former,  Jefferson  and  Burr  each  received 
seventy-three  electoral  votes,  without  specification  as  to 
whether  intended  for  the  first  or  second  office.  The  pro 
tracted  struggle  which  followed  resulted  in  the  choice  of 
Jefferson  for  the  higher  office.  This  fortunate  termination 
was  in  large  measure  through  the  influence  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  and  was  the  initial  step  in  the  bitter  personal 


76  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

strife  which  eventuated  in  his  early  death  at  the  hands  of 
Burr.  In  the  light  of  events,  we  may  well  believe  that  not 
the  least  of  the  public  services  of  Hamilton  was  his  unself 
ish  interposition  at  the  crucial  moment  mentioned.  The 
possibility  of  similar  complication  again  arising  in  the  elec 
tion  of  the  President  was  soon  thereafter  obviated  by  the 
Twelfth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution. 

Seldom  in  Presidential  contests  has  there  been  such  an 
array  of  great  names  presented  as  in  that  of  1824.  The  era 
of  good  feeling  which  characterized  the  administration  of 
Monroe  found  sudden  termination  in  the  rival  candidacy 
of  two  members  of  his  cabinet,  for  the  succession  —  Mr. 
Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  Crawford,  of  the  Treas 
ury.  The  other  aspirants  were  Clay,  the  brilliant  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Jackson,  with  laurels 
yet  fresh  from  the  battlefield  of  New  Orleans.  Mr.  Clay 
receiving  the  smallest  number  of  electoral  votes,  and  no 
candidate  the  majority  thereof,  the  selection  again  devolved 
upon  the  House,  resulting  eventually  in  the  choice  of  John 
Quincy  Adams. 

In  the  two  Presidential  contests  last  mentioned,  the  Senate 
had  no  part  in  the  final  adjustment.  An  occasion,  however, 
arose  nearly  a  half-century  later,  involving  the  succession  to 
the  Presidency,  in  which  the  Senate,  equally  with  the  House, 
was  an  important  factor  in  the  final  determination.  The 
country  has  known  few  periods  of  profounder  anxiety  to 
thoughtful  men,  or  of  greater  peril  to  stable  government,  than 
the  feverish  hours  immediately  succeeding  the  Presidential 
contest  of  1876.  The  shadow  cast  by  the  Hayes-Tilden  con 
test  even  yet,  in  a  measure,  lingers.  As  a  Representative 
in  Congress  at  the  time,  I  was  deeply  impressed  with  the 
gravity  of  the  situation.  In  the  instances  first  mentioned 
it  was  the  mere  question  of  the  failure  of  any  candidate  to 
receive  a  majority  of  the  electoral  votes.  The  framers  of 
the  Constitution  had  wisely  provided  for  such  contingency  by 
action  of  the  House  in  manner  indicated.  The  far  more 
serious  question  now  confronting  was,  For  whom  had  the 
disputed  States  of  Florida  and  Louisiana  cast  their  votes? 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  77 

The  settlement  of  this  question  virtually  determined  which 
candidate  should  be  inaugurated  President.  Conflicting  cer 
tificates  from  the  States  named  had  been  forwarded  to  the 
seat  of  government,  and  were  in  keeping  of  the  officer  desig 
nated  by  law  as  the  custodian  of  the  electoral  returns  from 
the  several  States.  The  contingency  which  had  now  arisen 
was  one  for  which  there  was  no  provision.  The  sole  function 
of  the  joint  session  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  was  "to  open 
all  the  certificates  and  count  the  votes."  This  was  "the  be 
all  and  end  all"  of  its  authority.  Upon  the  arising  of  any 
question  demanding  a  vote,  or  even  deliberation,  the  mem 
bers  of  the  joint  session  could  only  return  to  their  separate 
chambers.  They  could  act  only  in  their  separate  capacities. 
In  a  word,  the  perilous  exigency  presented  was,  the  friends 
of  one  candidate  having  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  and  of  the 
other  in  control  of  the  House;  conflicting  certificates  pre 
sented,  upon  which  hinged  the  result,  and  the  tension  through 
out  the  entire  country  assuming  alarming  proportions. 
Coupled  with  the  question  of  peaceable  succession  to  the 
great  office  was  that  of  the  durability  of  popular  government. 
Tremendous  issues,  upon  which  depended  unfathomable  con 
sequences,  pressed  for  settlement;  and  no  tribunal  was  in 
existence  for  their  determination. 

The  sober  second  thought  of  those  upon  whom  was  then 
cast  the  responsibility  asserted  itself  at  the  opportune  mo 
ment,  and  a  commission  consisting  of  an  equal  number  of 
Senators,  Representatives,  and  Judges  of  the  Great  Court  was 
created.  This  commission  —  extra-Constitutional,  as  was 
believed  by  many  —  decided  as  to  the  validity  of  the  con 
flicting  certificates,  and  in  effect  determined  as  to  the  Presi 
dential  succession. 

The  justification  of  the  act  creating  the  commission 
might  well  rest  upon  the  fact  that  an  overshadowing  emer 
gency  had  arisen,  where  necessity  becomes  the  paramount 
law.  "The  pendulum  of  history  swings  in  centuries,"  and 
a  single  term  of  the  great  office  weighed  little  in  view  of 
the  perils  that  surely  awaited  a  failure  to  secure  peaceful 
adjustment. 


78  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  adding  that  in  the  retrospect  of 
a  life,  no  longer  a  short  one,  I  have  no  regrets  that  my  humble 
voice  and  vote  were  given  for  peaceable  and  lawful  adjust 
ment  of  a  perilous  controversy,  that  cast  its  dark  shadow 
across  our  national  pathway  —  such  a  one  as,  please  God, 
our  country  may  never  witness  again. 

Unquestionably  the  least  satisfactory  of  the  devices  of 
our  Federal  Constitution  is  that  for  the  election  of  President 
and  Vice-President  through  the  instrumentality  of  colleges 
of  electors  chosen  by  the  several  States.  Upon  this  subject 
notes  of  warning  have  been  many  times  sounded  by  eminent 
statesmen  of  the  past.  In  view  of  the  hazardous  complica 
tions  through  which  we  have  happily  passed,  and  of  those 
which  may  possibly  beset  our  future  pathway  as  a  nation,  it 
would  indeed  be  the  part  of  wisdom,  if  by  Constitutional 
amendment  a  less  complicated  and  cumbrous  instrumentality 
could  be  devised  for  ascertaining  and  making  effective  the 
popular  will  in  the  selection  of  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  apprehensions  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu 
tion  was  that  of  executive  usurpation  of  functions  lawfully 
pertaining  to  the  coordinate  department  of  the  Government. 
This  was  measurably  guarded  against  by  the  provision  re 
quiring  appointment  to  high  office  to  be  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  While  the  President  by 
the  exercise  of  the  veto  power  possesses  a  negative  upon 
legislation,  the  Senate  by  virtue  of  the  provision  quoted  has 
an  equally  effective  negative  upon  executive  appointments 
to  important  office. 

To  the  President  is  confided  primarily  the  treaty-making 
power.  Treaties  are  the  law  of  the  land,  and  their  obser 
vance  in  spirit  as  well  as  letter  touches  the  national  honor. 
Upon  this  often  depends  the  issue  of  peace  or  war.  Before 
becoming  effective  their  ratification  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of 
the  Senate  is  indispensable.  From  these  and  other  safe 
guards  strikingly  appear  what  are  known  as  "the  checks  and 
balances"  of  the  Constitution. 

An  important  function  of  the  Senate  yet  to  be  mentioned 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  79 

is  that  of  sitting  as  a  high  court  of  impeachment.  The  Presi 
dent,  Vice-President,  and  other  high  officials  are  amenable  to 
its  jurisdiction.  The  initial  step,  however,  in  such  procedure 
is  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  as  the  grand  inquest  of 
the  nation,  presenting  articles  of  impeachment,  the  Senate 
possessing  the  sole  power  of  trial.  Six  times  only  in  our  his 
tory  has  the  Senate  been  resolved  into  a  Court  of  Impeach 
ment,  and  only  twice  —  hi  the  case  of  district  judges  —  has 
there  been  a  conviction.  The  earliest  trial,  more  than  a 
century  ago,  was  that  of  a  supreme  justice,  Chase  of  Mary 
land.  Apart  from  the  high  official  position  of  the  accused, 
and  the  august  tribunal  before  which  he  was  arraigned,  this 
trial  is  of  historic  interest  from  the  fact  that  it  involved  the 
once  famous  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws;  that  John  Randolph 
was  chief  of  the  managers  on  the  part  of  the  House;  Pinck- 
ney,  Martin,  and  William  Wirt  of  counsel  for  the  defence; 
and  Vice-President  Aaron  Burr,  the  presiding  officer  of  the 
court. 

The  trial  of  Belknap,  Secretary  of  War,  is  still  within  the 
memory  of  many.  As  a  member  of  the  House,  I  attended 
it  from  the  beginning.  It  appearing  from  the  evidence  that 
Belknap  had  resigned  his  office  before  the  presentation  of 
the  articles  of  impeachment,  he  was  acquitted.  The  fate 
of  General  Belknap  was  indeed  a  sad  one,  that  of  a  hitherto 
honorable  career  suddenly  terminated  under  a  cloud.  Mor 
ally  guiltless  himself,  his  chivalric  assumption  of  responsi 
bility  for  the  act  of  one  near  to  him,  and  his  patiently  abid 
ing  the  consequence,  has  invested  with  something  of  pathos, 
and  even  romance,  the  memory  of  his  trial. 

An  impeachment  that  has  left  its  deep  impress  upon  his 
tory,  and  before  which  all  others  pale  into  insignificance,  was 
that  of  President  Johnson,  charged  by  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  with  the  commission  of  "high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors/'  He  had  been  elected  to  the  second  place  upon 
the  ticket  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1864,  and  upon  the  death  of 
the  latter,  succeeded  to  the  Presidency.  Radical  differences 
with  the  majority  in  the  Congress,  upon  questions  vital  and 
far-reaching,  ultimately  culminated  in  the  presentation  of 


80  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

articles  of  impeachment.  Partisan  feeling  was  at  its  height, 
and  the  excitement  throughout  the  country  intense.  The 
trial  was  protracted  for  many  weeks  without  jot  or  tittle  of 
abatement  in  the  public  interest.  The  chief  managers  on 
the  part  of  the  House  were  Benjamin  F.  Butler  and  Thaddeus 
Stevens.  The  array  of  counsel  for  the  accused  included  the 
names  of  Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  Henry  Stanberry,  and  William 
M.  Evarts.  The  Senate,  in  its  high  character  of  a  court,  was 
presided  over  for  the  first  and  only  time  by  the  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States.  The  trial  was  conducted  with  marked 
decorum;  every  phase  of  questions  touching  the  exercise  of 
executive  authority,  or  lawful  discretion,  was  fully  discussed; 
the  very  springs  of  legislative  power,  and  its  limitation  under 
Constitutional  government,  were  laid  bare  —  all  with  an  elo 
quence  unparalleled  save  only  in  the  wondrous  efforts  of 
Sheridan,  Fox,  and  Burke  in  the  historic  impeachment  of 
Warren  Hastings  before  the  British  House  of  Lords.  The 
spectacle  presented  was  one  that  challenged  the  attention 
and  wonder  of  the  nations;  that  of  the  chief  magistrate  of 
a  great  republic  at  the  bar  of  justice,  calmly  awaiting  judg 
ment  without  popular  disturbance  or  attempted  revolt,  under 
the  safeguards  of  law  and  its  appointments.  The  highest 
test  of  the  virtue  of  our  system  of  representative  government, 
and  of  the  unfaltering  devotion  of  our  people  to  its  prescribed 
methods,  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  during  the  protracted 
trial  the  various  departments  proceeded  with  wonted  regu 
larity;  the  verdict  of  the  Senate  was  acquiesced  in  without 
manifestation  of  hostility;  partisan  passion  soon  abated; 
and  the  great  impeachment  peaceably  relegated  to  the  domain 
of  history. 

The  House  of  Representatives  has  an  official  life  of  short 
duration.  Its  reorganization  is  biennial.  The  Senate  is 
enduring.  Always  organized,  it  is  the  continuing  body  of 
our  national  legislature.  Its  members  change,  but  the 
Senate  continues  the  same  now,  as  in  the  first  hour  of  the 
Republic. 

In  his  last  great  speech  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Webster  said: 


THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED   STATES  81 

"  It  is  fortunate  that  there  is  a  Senate  of  the  United  States; 
a  body  not  yet  moved  from  its  propriety,  not  lost  to  a  full  sense 
of  its  own  dignity  and  its  own  high  responsibilities,  and  a  body 
to  which  the  country  looks  with  confidence  for  wise,  moderate, 
patriotic,  and  healing  counsels." 

Upon  the  first  assembling  of  the  Senate  in  its  present 
magnificent  chamber  nearly  half  a  century  ago,  the  Vice- 
President  closed  his  eloquent  dedicatory  address  with  the 
words : 

"Though  these  marble  walls  moulder  into  ruins,  the  Senate 
in  another  age  may  bear  into  a  new  and  larger  chamber  the 
Constitution  vigorous  and  inviolate,  and  the  last  generation  of 
posterity  shall  witness  the  deliberations  of  the  representatives 
of  American  States  still  united,  prosperous,  and  free." 


VI 
A  TRIBUTE   TO   LINCOLN 

THE  WRITER'S  SPEECH  AT  THE  LINCOLN  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRA 
TION,  1909  —  PATRIOTIC  CHARACTER  OF  THE  MEETING  —  LEAD 
ING  HISTORICAL  EVENTS  BETWEEN  1809  AND  1909 BIRTH 

OP    LINCOLN  —  TERRITORIAL    ORGANIZATION     OF    ILLINOIS  — 
BIRTH  OF  DARWIN   AND  GLADSTONE  —  CAREER  OF  NAPOLEON 

WAR   OF    1812  —  THE   SLAVERY   QUESTION  —  SEIZURE   AND 

SURRENDER    OF     MASON     AND     SLIDELL — EMANCIPATION     OF 
SLAVES. 

FEBRUARY  12,  1909,  will  long  be  remembered  as  the 
day  of  the  celebration  of  the  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  For  on  that  day  was 
the  culmination  of  a  celebration  which,  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  had  begun  at  least  a  week  before.  Rarely  has 
there  been  an  occasion  of  so  much  decoration,  so  many  ad 
dresses,  or  so  much  patriotism.  The  largest  celebration 
occurred  in  New  York  City,  but  that  of  Chicago,  if  not  as 
large,  was  at  least  as  interesting  and  impressive,  for  in  it  and 
surrounding  parts  of  Illinois  some  of  the  most  memorable 
events  in  the  life  of  Lincoln  took  place.  Yet  these  mani 
festations  were  not  a  whit  more  patriotic  than  those  of  many 
small  towns  and  villages. 

Every  hamlet,  every  town,  and  every  city  of  the  United 
States  seemed  to  be  imbued  with  a  desire  to  do  honor  to  the 
memory  of  the  man  Lincoln.  Every  newspaper  and  every 
magazine  of  whatever  name  or  order  was  filled  with  pictures, 
anecdotes,  and  sketches  of  the  life  of  " Honest  Abe."  Books 
galore  were  published  emphasizing  every  phase  of  his  life, 
character,  work,  and  influence;  and  they  sold  well. 

My  contribution  to  this  occasion  was  the  following  speech 
delivered  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  February  12 : 

82 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


ANDREW   JOHNSON 


A   TRIBUTE   TO   LINCOLN  83 

"We  have  assembled  to  commemorate  one  of  the  epoch- 
making  events  in  history.  In  the  humblest  of  homes  in  the 
wilds  of  a  new  and  sparsely  settled  State,  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  born  one  hundred  years  ago,  this  day. 

"The  twelfth  day  of  February,  like  the  twenty-second 
day  of  the  same  month,  is  one  of  the  sacred  days  in  the 
American  calendar.  It  is  well  that  this  day  be  set  apart 
from  ordinary  uses,  the  headlong  rush  in  the  crowded  mart 
suspended,  the  voice  of  fierce  contention  in  legislative  halls 
be  hushed,  and  that  the  American  people  —  whether  at  home, 
in  foreign  lands,  or  upon  the  deep  —  honor  themselves  by 
honoring  the  memory  of  the  man  of  whose  birth  this  day  is 
the  first  centennial. 

"This  coming  together  is  no  idle  ceremony,  no  unmeaning 
observance.  To  this  man,  more  than  to  any  other,  are 
we  indebted  for  the  supreme  fact  that  ninety  millions  of 
people  are  at  this  hour,  in  the  loftiest  sense  of  the  expression, 
fellow-citizens  of  a  common  country.  Some  of  us,  through 
the  mists  of  half  a  century,  distinctly  recall  the  earnest  tones 
in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  hi  public  speech  uttered  the  words, 
'My  fellow-citizens.'  Truly  the  magical  words  ' fellow-citi 
zens'  never  fail  to  touch  a  responsive  chord  hi  the  patriotic 
heart.  Was  it  the  gifted  Prentiss  who  at  a  critical  moment 
of  our  history  exclaimed : 

"'For  whether  upon  the  Sabine  or  the  St.  John's;  standing 
in  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill  or  amid  the  ruins  of  Jamestown; 
near  the  great  northern  lakes  or  within  the  sound  of  the  Father 
of  Waters  flowing  unvexed  to  the  sea;  in  the  crowded  mart  of 
the  great  metropolis  or  upon  the  western  verge  of  the  conti 
nent,  where  the  restless  tide  of  emigration  is  stayed  only  by  the 
ocean  —  everywhere  upon  this  broad  domain,  thank  God,  I  can 
still  say  "  fellow-citizens  "! ' 

"Let  us  pause  for  a  moment  and  briefly  note  some  of  the 
marvellous  results  wrought  out  by  the  toil,  strife,  and  sacrifice 
of  the  century  whose  close  we  commemorate.  The  Year  of 
Our  Lord  1809  was  one  of  large  place  in  history.  The  author 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  upon  the  eve  of 
final  retirement  from  public  place,  and  the  Presidential  term 
of  James  Madison  just  beginning,  when  hi  a  log  cabin  near 


84  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  western  verge  of  civilization  the  eyes  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  first  opened  upon  the  world.  The  vast  area  stretching 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  was  under  the 
dominion  of  Spain.  Two  decades  only  had  passed  since  the 
establishment  of  the  United  States  Government  under  the 
Federal  Constitution,  and  the  inauguration  of  Washington  as 
its  first  President.  Lewis  and  Clark  had  but  recently  returned 
from  the  now  historic  expedition  to  the  Columbia  and  the 
Oregon, —  an  expedition  fraught  with  momentous  conse 
quences  to  the  oncoming  generations  of  the  Republic.  Only 
five  years  had  passed  since  President  Jefferson  had  purchased, 
for  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  from  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the 
Louisiana  country,  extending  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the 
frozen  lakes,  out  of  which  were  to  be  carved  sixteen  magnifi 
cent  States  to  become  enduring  parts  of  the  American  Re 
public.  From  the  early  Colonial  settlements  that  fringed  the 
Atlantic,  a  tide  of  hardy  emigration  was  setting  in  to  the  west 
ward,  and,  regardless  of  privation  or  danger,  laying  the  sure 
foundation  of  future  commonwealths.  Four  States  only  had 
been  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union,  and  the  population  of 
the  entire  country  was  less  than  that  of  the  State  of  New  York 
to-day.  This  same  year  witnessed  the  first  organization  of 
Illinois  into  a  distinct  political  community  and  its  creation, 
by  act  of  Congress,  as  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  with  a  white 
population  less  than  one-twentieth  of  that  of  this  good  county 
to-day.  The  United  States  having  barely  escaped  a  war 
with  France,  —  our  ally  in  securing  our  independence,  —  was 
earnestly  struggling  for  distinct  place  among  the  nations. 
"No  less  significant,  and  fraught  with  deep  consequences, 
were  events  occurring  in  the  Old  World.  The  year  1809 
witnessed  the  birth  of  Darwin  and  of  Gladstone.  The  despot 
ism  of  the  Dark  Ages  still  brooded  over  Continental  Europe, 
and  whatever  savored  of  popular  public  rule  —  even  in  its 
mildest  form  —  was  yet  in  the  distant  future.  Alexander 
the  First  was  on  the  throne  of  Russia,  —  and  her  millions 
of  serfs  were  oppressed  as  by  the  iron  hand  of  the  Caesars. 
The  splendid  German  Empire  of  to-day  had  no  place  on  the 
map  of  the  world;  its  present  powerful  constituencies  were 


A   TRIBUTE   TO   LINCOLN  85 

antagonistic  provinces  and  warring  independent  cities.  Napo 
leon  Bonaparte  —  '  calling  Fate  into  the  lists'  —  by  a  suc 
cession  of  victories  unparalleled  in  history  had  overturned 
thrones,  compelled  kings  upon  bended  knee  to  sue  for  peace, 
and  substituted  those  of  his  own  household  for  dynasties 
that  reached  back  the  entire  length  of  human  history.  With 
his  star  still  in  the  ascendant,  disturbed  by  no  forecast  of 
the  horrid  nightmare  of  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  'with 
legions  scattered  by  the  artillery  of  the  snows  and  the  cavalry 
of  the  winds/  tortured  by  no  dream  of  Leipsic,  of  Elba,  of 
Waterloo,  of  St.  Helena,  he  was  still  the  'man  of  destiny/  — 
relentlessly  pursuing  the  ignis  fatuus  of  universal  empire. 

"  The  year  that  witnessed  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
witnessed  the  gathering  of  the  disturbing  elements  that  were 
to  precipitate  the  second  war  with  the  mother  country.  Eng 
land  —  with  George  the  Third  still  upon  the  throne  —  by 
insulting  and  cruel  search  of  American  vessels  upon  the  high 
seas,  was  rendering  inevitable  the  declaration  of  war  by  Con 
gress,  —  a  war  of  humiliation  upon  our  part  by  the  disgrace 
ful  surrender  of  Hull  at  Detroit  and  the  wanton  burning  of 
our  Capitol,  but  crowned  with  honor  by  the  naval  victories 
of  Lawrence,  Decatur,  and  Perry,  and  eventually  terminated 
by  the  capture  of  the  British  army  at  New  Orleans.  As  an 
object  lesson  of  the  marvels  of  the  closing  century,  an 
event  of  such  momentous  consequence  to  the  world  as  the 
formulation  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  by  which  peace  was 
restored  between  England  and  America,  would  to-day  be 
known  at  every  fireside  a  few  hours  after  its  occurrence.  And 
yet,  within  the  now  closing  century,  the  battle  of  New  Orleans 
was  fought  twenty-three  days  after  the  Treaty  of  Ghent, 
coming  by  slow-sailing  vessels  across  the  Atlantic,  had  re 
ceived  the  signature  of  our  commissioners;  all  unsettled 
accounts  squared  eternally  between  America  and  Great 
Britain;  and  the  United  States,  by  valor  no  less  than  by 
diplomacy,  exalted  to  honored  and  enduring  place  among 
the  nations. 

"The  fifty-six  years  that  compassed  the  life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  were  years  of  transcendent  significance  to  our  country. 


86  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

While  he  was  yet  in  his  rude  cradle  the  African  slave  trade 
had  just  terminated  by  constitutional  inhibition.  While 
Lincoln  was  still  hi  attendance  upon  the  old  field  school, 
Henry  Clay  —  yet  to  be  known  as  the  l great  pacificator' — 
was  pressing  the  admission  of  Missouri  into  the  Union  under 
the  first  compromise  upon  the  question  of  slavery  since  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  From  the  establish 
ment  of  the  Government  the  question  of  human  slavery  was 
the  one  perilous  question,  —  the  one  constant  menace  to 
national  unity,  until  its  final  extinction  amid  the  flames  of 
war.  Marvellous  to  man  are  the  purposes  of  the  Almighty. 
What  seer  could  have  foretold  that,  from  this  humblest  of 
homes  upon  the  frontier,  was  to  spring  the  man  who  at  the 
crucial  moment  should  cut  the  Gordian  knot,  liberate  a  race, 
and  give  to  the  ages  enlarged  and  grander  conception  of  the 
deathless  principles  of  the  declaration  of  human  rights? 

"  'Often  do  the  spirits  of  great  events 
Stride  on  before  the  events, 
And  in  to-day  already  walks  to-morrow.' 

"The  first  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  noted  the 
hour  of  the  breaking  with  the  past.  It  was  a  period  of 
gloom,  when  the  very  foundations  were  shaken,  when  no 
man  could  foretell  the  happening  of  the  morrow,  when 
strong  men  trembled  at  the  possibility  of  the  destruction  of 
our  Government. 

"  Pause  a  moment,  and  recall  the  man  who,  under  the  con 
ditions  mentioned,  on  the  fourth  of  March,  1861,  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  the  great  office  to  which  he  had  been  chosen. 
He  came  from  the  common  walks  of  life  —  from  what,  in 
other  countries,  would  be  called  the  great  middle  class.  His 
early  home  was  one  of  the  humblest,  where  he  was  a  stranger 
to  the  luxuries  and  to  many  of  the  ordinary  comforts  of 
life.  His  opportunities  for  education  were  only  such  as  were 
common  hi  the  remote  habitations  of  our  Western  country 
one  century  ago. 

"  Under  such  conditions,  began  a  career  which  in  grandeur 
and  achievement  has  but  a  single  counterpart  in  our  history. 
And  what  a  splendid  commentary  this  upon  our  free  institu- 


A   TRIBUTE   TO   LINCOLN  87 

tions,  —  upon  the  sublime  underlying  principle  of  popular 
government!  How  inspiring  to  the  youth  of  high  aims  every 
incident  of  the  pathway  that  led  from  the  frontier  cabin  to 
the  Executive  Mansion,  —  from  the  humblest  position  to  the 
most  exalted  yet  attained  by  man!  In  no  other  country 
than  ours  could  such  attainment  have  been  possible  for  the 
boy  whose  hands  were  inured  to  toil,  whose  bread  was  eaten 
under  the  hard  conditions  that  poverty  imposes,  whose  only 
heritage  was  brain,  integrity,  lofty  ambition,  and  indomitable 
purpose.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  the  man  of  whom  I 
speak  possessed  an  integrity  that  could  know  no  temptation, 
a  purity  of  life  that  was  never  questioned,  a  patriotism  that 
no  sectional  lines  could  limit,  and  a  fixedness  of  purpose  that 
knew  no  shadow  of  turning. 

"The  decade  extending  from  our  first  treaty  of  peace 
with  Great  Britain  to  the  inauguration  of  Washington  has 
been  truly  denominated  the  critical  period  of  our  history. 
The  eloquence  of  Adams  and  Henry  had  precipitated  revolu 
tion;  the  unfaltering  courage  of  Washington  and  his  comrades 
had  secured  independence;  but  the  more  difficult  task  of 
garnering  up  the  fruits  of  victory  by  stable  government  was 
yet  to  be  achieved.  The  hour  for  the  constructive  states 
man  had  arrived,  and  James  Madison  and  his  associates,  equal 
to  the  great  emergency,  formulated  the  Federal  Constitution. 

"  No  less  critical  was  the  period  that  bounded  the  active 
life  of  the  man  whose  memory  we  honor  to-day.  One  perilous 
question  to  national  unity  which  for  nearly  three-quarters 
of  a  century  had  been  the  subject  of  repeated  compromise  by 
patriotic  statesmen;  the  apple  of  discord  producing  sectional 
antagonism,  whose  shadow  had  darkened  our  national  path 
way  from  the  beginning,  —  was  now  for  weal  or  woe  to  find 
determination.  Angry  debate  in  the  Senate  and  upon  the 
forum  was  now  hushed,  and  the  supreme  question  that  took 
hold  of  national  life  was  to  find  enduring  arbitrament  in  the 
dread  tribunal  of  war. 

"  It  was  well  that  in  such  an  hour,  with  such  tremendous 
issues  in  the  balance,  a  steady  hand  was  at  the  helm; 
that  a  conservative  statesman  —  one  whose  mission  was  to 


88  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

save,  not  to  destroy  —  was  in  the  high  place  of  responsibility 
and  power.  It  booted  little  then  that  he  was  untaught  of 
schools,  unskilled  in  the  ways  of  courts,  but  it  was  of  supreme 
moment  that  he  could  touch  responsive  chords  in  the  great 
American  heart,  all-important  that  his  very  soul  yearned  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Government  established  through  the 
toil  and  sacrifice  of  the  generation  that  had  gone.  How  hope 
less  the  Republic  in  that  dark  hour,  had  its  destiny  hung 
upon  the  statecraft  of  Talleyrand,  the  eloquence  of  Mirabeau, 
or  the  genius  of  Napoleon!  It  was  fortunate  indeed  that 
the  ark  of  our  covenant  was  then  borne  by  the  plain,  brave 
man  of  conciliatory  spirit  and  kind  words,  whose  heart,  as 
Emerson  has  said,  'was  as  large  as  the  world,  but  nowhere 
had  room  for  the  memory  of  a  wrong.' 

"  Nobler  words  have  never  fallen  from  human  lips  than  the 
closing  sentences  of  his  first  inaugural  uttered  on  one  of  the 
pivotal  days  of  human  history,  immediately  after  taking  the 
oath  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  his  country: 

"'I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends. 
Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds 
of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  patriot's  grave  to  every  heart  and  hearthstone 
of  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union  when 
touched  as  they  will  be  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature.' 

"  In  the  light  of  what  we  now  know  so  well,  nothing  is 
hazarded  in  saying  that  the  death  of  no  man  has  been  to 
his  country  so  irreparable  a  loss,  or  one  so  grievous  to  be 
borne,  as  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  When  Washington  died 
his  work  was  done,  his  life  well  rounded  out.  Save  one,  the 
years  allotted  had  been  passed.  Not  so  with  Lincoln.  To 
him  a  grander  task  was  yet  in  waiting,  one  no  other  could  so 
well  perform.  The  assassin's  pistol  proved  the  veritable  Pan 
dora's  box  from  which  sprung  evils  untold, —  whose  conse 
quences  have  never  been  measured, —  to  one-third  of  the 
States  of  our  Union.  But  for  his  untimely  death  how  the 
current  of  history  might  have  been  changed,  —  and  many  a 
sad  chapter  remained  unwritten !  How  earnestly  he  desired  a 
restored  Union,  and  that  the  blessings  of  peace  and  of  concord 


A   TRIBUTE   TO    LINCOLN  89 

should  be  the  common  heritage  of  every  section,  is  known 
to  all. 

"  When  in  the  loom  of  time  have  such  words  been  heard 
above  the  din  of  fierce  conflict  as  his  sublime  utterances  but 
a  brief  time  before  his  tragic  death  — 

"'With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with 
firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us 
strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's 
wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and 
for  his  widow  and  his  orphan,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  a 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations.' 

"  No  fitter  occasion  than  this  can  ever  arise  in  which  to 
refer  to  two  historical  events  that  at  crucial  moments  tested 
to  the  utmost  the  safe  and  far-seeing  statesmanship  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln.  The  first  was  the  seizure  upon  the  high  seas 
of  Mason  and  Slidell,  the  accredited  representatives  from  the 
Southern  Confederacy  to  the  courts  of  England  and  France, 
respectively.  The  seizure  was  in  November,  1861,  by  Cap 
tain  Wilkes  of  our  navy;  and  the  envoys  named  were  taken 
by  him  from  the  Trent,  a  mail-carrying  steamer  of  the 
British  Government.  The  act  of  Captain  Wilkes  met  with 
enthusiastic  commendation  throughout  the  entire  country; 
he  was  voted  the  thanks  of  Congress,  and  his  act  publicly 
approved  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

"  The  demand  by  the  British  government  for  reparation 
upon  the  part  of  the  United  States  was  prompt  and  explicit. 
The  perils  that  then  environed  us  were  such  as  rarely  shadow 
the  pathway  of  nations.  Save  Russia  alone,  our  Govern 
ment  had  no  friend  among  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe. 
Menaced  by  the  peril  of  the  recognition  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  by  England  and  France,  with  the  very  stars 
apparently  warring  against  us  in  their  courses,  the  position 
of  the  President  was  in  the  last  degree  trying.  To  surren 
der  the  Confederate  envoys  was  in  a  measure  humiliating 
and  in  opposition  to  the  popular  impulse;  their  retention,  the 
signal  for  the  probable  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confeder 
acy  by  the  European  powers,  and  the  certain  and  immediate 
declaration  of  war  by  England. 


90  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"  The  good  genius  of  President  Lincoln  —  rather  his  wise, 
just,  far-seeing  statesmanship  —  stood  him  well  in  hand  at 
the  critical  moment.  Had  a  rash  and  impulsive  man  then 
held  the  executive  office,  what  a  sea  of  troubles  might  have 
overwhelmed  us!  How  the  entire  current  of  our  history 
might  have  been  changed! 

"  The  calm,  wise  President  in  his  council  chamber,  aided 
by  his  closest  official  adviser,  Secretary  Seward,  discerned 
clearly  the  path  of  national  safety  and  of  honor.  None  the 
less  was  the  act  of  the  President  one  of  justice,  one  that  will 
abide  the  sure  test  of  time.  Upon  the  real  ground  that  the 
seizure  of  the  envoys  was  in  violation  of  the  Law  of  Nations, 
they  were  eventually  surrendered,  and  war  with  England, 
as  well  as  immediate  danger  of  recognition  of  the  Confeder 
acy,  averted.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  this  very  act  of 
President  Lincoln  was  a  triumphant  vindication  of  our 
Government  in  its  second  war  with  Great  Britain  —  a  war 
waged  as  a  protest  on  our  part  against  British  seizure  and 
impressment  of  American  citizens  upon  the  high  seas. 

"  The  other  incident,  to  which  I  briefly  refer,  was  the  proc 
lamation  of  emancipation.  As  a  war  measure  of  stupendous 
significance  in  the  national  defence,  as  well  as  of  justice  to 
the  enslaved,  such  proclamation,  immediate  in  time  and 
radical  in  terms,  had  to  greater  or  less  degree  been  urged  upon 
the  President  from  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion.  That 
slavery  was  to  perish  amid  the  great  upheaval  became  in 
time  the  solemn  conviction  of  all  thoughtful  men.  Mean 
while  there  were  divided  counsels  among  the  earnest  sup 
porters  of  the  President  as  to  the  time  the  masterful  act 
'that  could  know  no  backward  steps'  should  be  taken.  Un 
moved  amid  divided  counsels,  and  at  times  fierce  dissensions, 
the  calm,  far-seeing  executive,  upon  whom  was  cast  the  tre 
mendous  responsibility,  patiently  bided  his  time.  Events 
that  are  now  the  masterful  theme  of  history  crowded  in  rapid 
succession,  the  opportune  moment  arrived,  the  hour  struck, 
the  proclamation  that  has  no  counterpart  fell  upon  the  ears 
of  the  startled  world,  and,  as  by  the  interposition  of  a  mightier 
hand,  a  race  was  lifted  out  of  the  depths  of  bondage. 


A  TRIBUTE  TO  LINCOLN  91 

"To  the  one  man  at  the  helm  it  seemed  to  have  been 
given  to  know  the  day  and  the  hour.  At  the  crucial  moment, 
in  one  of  the  exalted  days  of  human  history, 

"  'He  sounded  forth  the  trumpet  that  has  never  called  retreat.' 

"The  men  who  knew  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  saw  him  face 
to  face,  who  heard  his  voice  in  public  assemblage,  have  with 
few  exceptions  passed  to  the  grave.  Another  generation  is 
upon  the  busy  stage.  The  book  has  forever  closed  upon  the 
dreadful  pageant  of  civil  strife.  Sectional  animosities,  thank 
God,  belong  now  only  to  the  past.  The  mantle  of  Peace  is 
over  our  entire  land,  and  prosperity  within  our  borders. 

"  'The  war-drum  throbs  no  longer, 
And  the  battle  flags  are  furled 
In  the  parliament  of  men, 
The  federation  of  the  world/ 

"Through  the  instrumentality,  in  no  small  measure,  of 
the  man  whose  memory  we  now  honor,  the  Government 
established  by  our  fathers,  untouched  by  the  finger  of  Time, 
has  descended  to  us.  The  responsibility  of  its  preservation 
and  transmission  rests  upon  the  successive  generations  as 
they  come  and  go.  To-day,  at  this  auspicious  hour  sacred 
to  the  memory  of  Lincoln,  let  us,  his  countrymen,  inspired 
by  the  sublime  lessons  of  his  wondrous  life,  and  grateful  to 
God  for  all  He  has  vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  and  to  us  in 
the  past,  take  courage  and  turn  our  faces  resolutely,  hope 
fully,  trustingly  to  the  future.  I  know  of  no  words  more 
fitting  with  which  to  close  this  humble  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  than  those  inscribed  upon  the  monu 
ment  of  Moliere: 

" '  Nothing  was  wanting  to  his  glory;  he  was  wanting  to  ours/  " 


vn 

STEPHEN  A.   DOUGLAS 

DOUGLAS'S  HARDSHIPS  IN  YOUTH  —  HE  is  ADMITTED  TO  THE 
BAB  —  JACKSON'S  TRIUMPH  OVER  ADAMS  IN  1828  —  DOUG 
LAS  ENTERS  THE  ARENA  OF  DEBATE  AT  THE  AGE  OF  22  — 

BECOMES     ATTORNEY  -  GENERAL CHOSEN     TO     THE     TENTH 

GENERAL   ASSEMBLY  OF  ILLINOIS  —  BECOMES   SECRETARY  OF 

STATE    IN    ILLINOIS DEFENDS    JACKSON'S    DECLARATION    OF 

MARTIAL  LAW  AT  NEW  ORLEANS TAKES  PART  IN  THE  OREGON 

BOUNDARY  DEBATE ADVOCATES  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS 

IS  ELECTED  TO  THE  SENATE ADVOCATES  THE  ADMISSION 

OF    CALIFORNIA    AS    A   FREE    STATE HE    PROCURES    A    LAND 

GRANT   TO   THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL   RAILROAD    COMPANY IN 

DEBATING    THE    KANSAS-NEBRASKA    BILL    HE    CONTENDS  FOR 

POPULAR      SOVEREIGNTY ORIGIN       OF       THE       REPUBLICAN 

PARTY DOUGLAS    LOSES   THE    FRIENDSHIP     OF    THE    SOUTH 

DEBATES    BETWEEN    DOUGLAS    AND    LINCOLN LINCOLN'S 

EARLY     HISTORY DOUGLAS'S     REASONS      FOR      ADVOCATING 

POPULAR    SOVEREIGNTY LINCOLN'S    REPLY THE  SLAVERY 

QUESTION THE       DEMOCRATIC      PARTY       RENT      ASUNDER 

CONSEQUENT  FAILURE  OF  DOUGLAS  TO  WIN    THE    PRESIDENCY 
HIS  DEATH. 

HISTORY  has  been  defined,   "The  sum  of  the  biogra 
phies  of  a  few  strong  men."    Much  that  is  of  profound 
and  abiding  interest  in  American  history  during  the 
two  decades  immediately  preceding  our  Civil  War  is  bound 
up  in  the  biography  of  the  strong  man  of  whom   I  write. 
Chief  among  the  actors,  his  place  was  near  the  middle  of  the 
stage  during  that  eventful  and  epoch-marking  period. 

Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  born  in  Brandon,  Vermont, 
April  23,  1813,  and  died  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  June  3,  1861. 
Between  the  dates  given  lie  the  years  that  make  up  a  crowded, 
eventful  life.  Left  penniless  by  the  death  of  his  father,  he 
was  at  a  tender  age  dependent  upon  his  own  exertions  for 
maintenance  and  education.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  ap 
prenticed  himself  to  a  cabinet-maker  in  the  town  of  Middle- 
bury  in  his  native  State.  Naturally  of  delicate  organization, 

92 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  93 

he  was  unable  long  to  endure  the  physical  strain  of  this  calling, 
and  at  the  close  of  two  years '  service  he  returned  to  his  early 
home.  Entering  an  academy  in  Brandon,  he  there  for  a  time 
pursued  with  reasonable  diligence  the  studies  preparatory 
to  a  higher  course.  Supplementing  the  education  thus  ac 
quired,  by  a  brief  course  of  study  in  an  academy  at  Canan- 
daigua,  New  York,  at  the  age  of  twenty  he  turned  his  foot 
steps  westward. 

One  of  his  biographers  says: 

"It  is  doubtful  if  among  all  the  thousands  who  in  those 
early  days  were  constantly  faring  westward  from  New  England, 
Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,  there  ever  was  a  youth  more  reso 
lutely  and  boldly  addressed  to  opportunity  than  he.  Penniless, 
broken  in  health,  almost  diminutive  in  physical  stature,  and 
unknown,  he  made  his  way  successively  to  Cincinnati,  Louisville, 
and  St.  Louis,  in  search  of  employment,  literally  of  bread." 

By  a  sudden  turn  in  fortune's  wheel  his  lot  was  cast  in 
Central  Illinois,  where  his  first  vocation  was  that  of  teacher 
of  a  village  school.     Yet  later  —  after  laborious  application  - 
admitted  to  the  bar,  he  courageously  entered  upon  his  mar 
vellous  career. 

His  home  was  Jacksonville,  and  to  the  hardy  pioneers  of 
Morgan  and  neighboring  counties,  it  was  soon  revealed  that 
notwithstanding  his  slight  stature  and  boyish  appearance 
the  youthful  Douglas  was  at  once  to  be  taken  fully  into  the 
account.  Self-reliant  to  the  very  verge,  he  unhesitatingly 
entered  the  arena  of  active  professional  and  political  strife 
with  foemen  worthy  the  steel  of  veterans  at  the  bar,  and  upon 
the  hustings. 

The  issues  were  sharply  drawn  between  the  two  political 
parties  then  struggling  for  ascendancy,  and  Central  Illinois 
was  the  home  of  as  brilliant  an  array  of  gifted  leaders  as  the 
Whig  party  at  any  time  in  its  palmiest  days  had  known. 
Hardin,  Stuart,  Browning,  Logan,  Baker,  Lincoln  were  just 
then  upon  the  threshold  of  careers  that  have  given  their 
names  honored  and  enduring  place  upon  the  pages  of  our 
history.  Into  the  safe  keeping  of  the  leaders  just  named, 
were  entrusted  in  large  degree  the  advocacy  of  the  principles 


94  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  the  now  historic  party,  and  the  political  fortunes  of  its 
great  chieftain,  Henry  Clay. 

As  is  well  known,  the  principal  antagonist  of  the  renowned 
Whig  chieftain  was  Andrew  Jackson.  Earlier  in  their  political 
careers,  both  had  been  earnest  supporters  of  the  administra 
tion  of  President  Monroe,  but  at  its  close  the  leaders  last 
named,  with  Adams  and  Crawford,  were  aspirants  to  the  great 
office.  No  candidate  receiving  a  majority  of  the  electoral 
votes  and  the  selection  by  Constitutional  requirement  de 
volving  upon  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Adams  was 
eventually  chosen.  His  election  over  his  principal  competi 
tor,  General  Jackson,  was  largely  through  the  influence  of 
Mr.  Clay;  and  the  subsequent  acceptance  by  the  latter  of 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  gave  rise  to  the  unfounded 
but  vehement  cry  of  "Bargain  and  corruption,"  which  fol 
lowed  the  Kentucky  statesman  through  two  presidential 
struggles  of  later  periods,  and  died  wholly  away  only  when 
the  clods  had  fallen  upon  his  grave. 

Triumphant  in  his  candidacy  over  Adams  in  1828,  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  four  years  later,  encountered  as  his  formidable 
competitor  his  colossal  antagonist  —  the  one  man  for  whom 
he  had  no  forgiveness,  even  when  the  shadows  were  gathering 
about  his  own  couch. 

"The  early  and  better  days  of  the  Republic"  is  by  no 
means  an  unusual  expression  in  the  political  literature  of  our 
day.  Possibly  all  the  generations  of  men  have  realized  the 
significance  of  the  words  of  the  great  bard: 

"  Past  and  to  come  seem  best; 
Things  present  worst. 
We  are  time's  subjects." 

And  yet,  barring  the  closing  months  of  the  administration 
of  the  elder  Adams,  this  country  has  known  no  period  of  more 
intense  party  passion,  or  of  more  deadly  feuds  among  politi 
cal  leaders,  than  was  manifested  during  the  presidential  con 
test  of  1832.  The  Whig  party,  with  Henry  Clay  as  its 
candidate  and  its  idol,  was  for  the  first  time  in  the  field. 
Catching  something  of  the  spirit  of  its  imperious  leader,  its 
campaign  was  recklessly  aggressive.  The  scabbard  was 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  95 

thrown  away,  and  all  the  lines  of  retreat  cut  off  from  the 
beginning.  No  act  of  the  party  in  power  escaped  the  lime 
light;  no  delinquency,  real  or  imaginary,  of  Jackson  —  its 
candidate  for  reelection  —  but  was  ruthlessly  drawn  into 
the  open  day.  Even  the  domestic  hearthstone  was  invaded 
and  antagonisms  engendered  that  knew  no  surcease  until  the 
last  of  the  chief  participants  in  the  eventful  struggle  had  de 
scended  to  the  tomb. 

The  defeat  of  Clay  but  intensified  his  hostility  toward  his 
successful  rival,  and  with  a  following  that  in  personal  devo 
tion  to  its  leader  has  scarcely  known  a  parallel,  he  was  at  once 
the  peerless  front  of  a  powerful  opposition  to  the  Jackson 
administration. 

Such  were  the  existing  political  conditions  throughout 
the  country  when  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  first  entered  the  arena  of  debate.  It  would  not  be 
strange  if  such  environment  left  its  deep  impress,  and  meas 
urably  gave  direction  to  his  political  career.  The  period  of 
probation  and  training  so  essential  to  ordinary  men  was  un- 
needed  by  him.  Fully  equipped — and  with  a  self-confidence 
that  has  rarely  had  a  counterpart  —  he  was  from  the 
beginning  the  earnest  defender  of  the  salient  measures  of  the 
Democratic  administration,  and  the  aggressive  champion 
of  President  Jackson.  Absolutely  fearless,  he  took  no  reck 
oning  of  the  opposing  forces,  and  regardless  of  the  prowess  or 
ripe  experience  of  adversaries,  he  at  all  times,  in  and  out  of 
season,  gladly  welcomed  the  encounter.  To  this  end,  he  did 
not  await  opportunities,  but  eagerly  sought  them. 

His  first  contest  for  public  office  was  with  John  J.  Hardin, 
by  no  means  the  least  gifted  of  the  brilliant  Whig  leaders 
already  mentioned.  Defeated  by  Douglas  in  his  candidacy 
for  reelection  to  the  office  of  Attorney  General,  Colonel 
Hardin  at  a  later  day  achieved  distinction  as  a  Representa 
tive  in  Congress,  and  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven  fell 
while  gallantly  leading  his  regiment  upon  the  bloody  field 
of  Buena  Vista.  In  the  catalogue  of  men  worthy  of  remem 
brance,  there  is  to  be  found  the  name  of  no  braver,  manlier 
man,  than  that  of  John  J.  Hardin. 


96  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

With  well-earned  laurels  as  public  prosecutor,  Douglas 
resigned,  after  two  years'  incumbency  of  that  office,  to 
accept  that  of  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature.  The 
Tenth  General  Assembly  —  to  which  he  was  chosen  —  was 
the  most  notable  in  Illinois  history.  Upon  the  roll  of 
members  of  the  House  —  in  the  old  Capitol  at  Vandalia  —  are 
names  inseparably  associated  with  the  history  of  the  State 
and  the  nation.  From  its  list  were  yet  to  be  chosen  two  Gov 
ernors  of  the  commonwealth,  one  member  of  the  Cabinet,  three 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  eight  Representa 
tives  in  Congress,  six  Senators,  and  one  President  of  the  United 
States.  That  would  indeed  be  a  notable  assemblage  of  law 
makers  in  any  country  or  time,  that  included  in  its  member 
ship  McClernand,  Edwards,  Ewing,  Semple,  Logan,  Hardin, 
Browning,  Shields,  Baker,  Stuart,  Douglas,  and  Lincoln. 

In  this  assembly,  Douglas  encountered  in  impassioned 
debate,  possibly  for  the  first  time,  two  men  against  whom  in 
succession  he  was  soon  to  be  opposed  upon  the  hustings  as 
candidate  for  Congress;  and  later  as  an  aspirant  to  yet 
more  exalted  stations,  another,  with  whose  name  —  now 
" given  to  the  ages" — his  own  is  linked  inseparably  for  all 
time. 

The  most  brilliant  and  exciting  contest  for  the  national 
House  of  Representatives  the  State  has  known  —  excepting 
possibly  that  of  Cook  and  McLean  a  decade  and  a  half  earlier 
—  was  that  of  1838  between  John  T.  Stuart  and  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  They  were  the  recognized  champions  of  their  re 
spective  parties.  The  district  embraced  two-thirds  of  the 
area  of  the  State,  extending  from  the  counties  immediately 
south  of  Sangamon  and  Morgan,  northward  to  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  Wisconsin  line.  Together  on  horseback,  often  across 
unbridged  streams,  and  through  pathless  forest  and  prairie, 
they  journeyed,  holding  joint  debates  in  all  the  county 
seats  of  the  district  —  including  the  then  villages  of  Jackson 
ville,  Springfield,  Peoria,  Pekin,  Bloomington,  Quincy,  Joliet, 
Galena,  and  Chicago.  That  the  candidates  were  well  matched 
in  ability  and  eloquence  readily  appears  from  the  fact  that 
after  an  active  canvass  of  several  months,  Major  Stuart  was 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  97 

elected  by  a  majority  of  but  eight  votes.  By  reflections  he 
served  six  years  in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  was  one 
of  its  ablest  and  most  valuable  members.  In  Congress,  he 
was  the  political  friend  and  associate  of  Crittenden,  Win- 
throp,  Clay,  and  Webster.  Major  Stuart  lives  in  my  memory 
as  a  splendid  type  of  the  Whig  statesman  of  the  Golden  Age. 
Courteous  and  kindly,  he  was  at  all  times  a  Kentucky  gentle 
man  of  the  old  school  if  ever  one  trod  this  blessed  earth. 

Returning  to  the  bar  after  his  defeat  for  Congress, 
Douglas  was,  in  quick  succession,  Secretary  of  State  by  ap 
pointment  of  the  Governor,  and  Judge  of  the  Circuit  and 
Supreme  Courts  by  election  by  the  Legislature.  The  courts 
he  held  as  nisi  prius  judge  were  in  the  Quincy  circuit,  and  the 
last-named  city  for  the  time  his  home.  His  associates  upon 
the  Supreme  Bench  were  Justices  Treat,  Caton,  Ford,  Wilson, 
Scates,  and  Lockwood.  His  opinions,  twenty-one  in  number, 
will  be  found  in  Scammon's  Reports.  There  was  little  in  any 
of  the  causes  submitted  to  test  fully  his  capacity  as  lawyer 
or  logician.  Enough,  however,  appears  from  his  clear  and  con 
cise  statements  and  arguments  to  justify  the  belief  that  had 
his  life  been  unreservedly  given  to  the  profession  of  the  law, 
his  talents  concentrated  upon  the  mastery  of  its  eternal  prin 
ciples,  he  would  in  the  end  have  been  amply  rewarded  "by 
that  mistress  who  is  at  the  same  time  so  jealous  and  so  just." 
This,  however,  was  not  to  be,  and  to  a  field  more  alluring  his 
footsteps  were  now  turned.  Abandoning  the  bench  to  men 
less  ambitious,  he  was  soon  embarked  upon  the  uncertain 
and  delusive  sea  of  politics. 

His  unsuccessful  opponent  for  Congress  in  1842  was  the 
Hon.  Orville  H.  Browning,  with  whom,  in  the  State  Legisla 
ture,  he  had  measured  swords  over  a  partisan  resolution 
sustaining  the  financial  policy  of  President  Jackson.  "  The 
whirligig  of  time  brings  in  his  revenges,"  and  it  so  fell  out 
that  near  two  decades  later  it  was  the  fortune  of  Mr.  Browning 
to  occupy  a  seat  in  the  Senate  as  the  successor  of  Douglas  - 
"touched  by  the  finger  of  death."  At  a  later  day,  Mr.  Brown 
ing,  as  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  of  President  Johnson,  ac 
quitted  himself  with  honor  in  the  discharge  of  the  exacting 


98  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

duties  of  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  So  long  as  men  of  high 
aims,  patriotic  hearts,  and  noble  achievements  are  held  in 
grateful  remembrance,  his  name  will  have  honored  place  in 
our  country's  annals. 

The  career  upon  which  Douglas  now  entered  was  the 
one  for  which  he  was  preeminently  fitted,  and  to  which  he 
had  aspired  from  the  beginning.  It  was  a  career  in  which 
national  fame  was  to  be  achieved,  and  —  by  reelections  to 
the  House,  and  later  to  the  Senate  —  to  continue  without 
interruption  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life.  He  took  his  seat  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  December  5,  1843,  and  among 
his  colleagues  were  Semple  and  Breese  of  the  Senate,  and 
Hardin,  McClernand,  Ficklin,  and  Wentworth  of  the  House. 
Mr.  Stephens  of  Georgia, —  with  whom  it  was  my  good  fortune 
to  serve  in  the  forty-fourth  and  forty-sixth  Congresses  — 
told  me  that  he  entered  the  House  the  same  day  with  Douglas, 
and  that  he  distinctly  recalled  the  delicate  and  youthful 
appearance  of  the  latter  as  he  advanced  to  the  Speaker's 
desk  to  receive  the  oath  of  office.  Conspicuous  among  the 
leaders  of  the  House  in  the  twenty-eighth  Congress  were 
Hamilton  Fish,  Washington  Hunt,  Henry  A.  Wise,  Howell 
Cobb,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Linn  Boyd,  John  Slidell,  Barn- 
well  Rhett,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  the  Speaker,  Hannibal  Ham- 
lin,  elected  Vice-President  upon  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  1860,  Andrew  Johnson,  the  successor  of  the  lamented  Presi 
dent  in  1865,  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  whose  brilliant  career 
as  Ambassador,  Senator,  Secretary  of  State,  and  President, 
was  rounded  out  by  nearly  two  decades  of  faithful  service 
as  a  Representative  in  Congress. 

The  period  that  witnessed  the  entrance  of  Douglas  into 
the  great  Commons  was  an  eventful  one  in  our  political 
history.  John  Tyler,  upon  the  death  of  President  Harrison, 
had  succeeded  to  the  great  office,  and  was  in  irreconcilable  hos 
tility  to  the  leaders  of  his  party  upon  the  vital  issues  upon 
which  the  Whig  victory  of  1840  had  been  achieved.  Henry 
Clay  —  then  at  the  zenith  of  his  marvellous  powers  —  merciless 
in  his  arraignment  of  the  Tyler  administration,  was  unwit 
tingly  breeding  the  party  dissensions  that  eventually  com- 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  99 

passed  his  own  defeat  in  his  last  struggle  for  the  Presidency. 
Daniel  Webster,  regardless  of  the  criticism  of  party  asso 
ciates,  and  after  the  retirement  of  his  Whig  colleagues 
from  the  Tyler  cabinet,  still  remained  at  the  head  of 
the  State  Department.  His  vindication,  if  needed,  abund 
antly  appears  in  the  treaty  by  which  our  northeastern 
boundary  was  definitely  adjusted,  and  war  with  England 
happily  averted. 

In  the  rush  of  events,  party  antagonisms,  in  the  main, 
soon  fade  from  remembrance.  One,  however,  that  did  not 
pass  with  the  occasion,  but  lingered  even  to  the  shades  of 
the  Hermitage,  was  unrelenting  hostility  to  President  Jack 
son.  For  his  declaration  of  martial  law  in  New  Orleans  just 
prior  to  the  battle  —  with  which  his  own  name  is  associated 
for  all  time  —  General  Jackson  had  been  subjected  to  a  heavy 
fine  by  a  judge  of  that  city.  Repeated  attempts  in  Congress 
looking  to  his  vindication  and  reimbursement,  had  been  un 
availing.  Securing  the  floor  for  the  first  time,  Douglas 

—  upon  the  anniversary  of  the  great  victory  —  delivered  an 
impassioned  speech  in  vindication  of  Jackson  which  at  once 
challenged  the  attention  of  the  country,  and  gave  him  high 
place  among  the  great  debaters  of  that  memorable  Congress. 
In  reply  to  the  demand  of  an  opponent  for  a  precedent  for 
the  proposed  legislation,  Douglas  quickly  responded: 

11  Possibly,  sir,  no  case  can  be  found  on  any  page  of  Ameri 
can  history  where  the  commanding  officer  has  been  fined  for 
an  act  absolutely  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  his  country. 
As  to  precedents,  let  us  make  one  now  that  will  challenge  the 
admiration  of  the  world  and  stand  the  test  of  all  the  ages." 

After  a  graphic  description  of  conditions  existing  in  New 
Orleans  at  the  time  of  Jackson's  declaration  of  martial  law, 
"the  city  filled  with  traitors,  anxious  to  surrender;  spies 
transmitting  information  to  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  British 
regulars  —  four-fold  the  number  of  the  American  defenders 

—  advancing  to  the  attack  —  in  this  terrible  emergency, 
necessity  became  the  paramount  law,  the  responsibility  was 
taken,  martial  law  declared,  and  a  victory  achieved  unparal 
leled  in  the  annals  of  war;  a  victory  that  avenged  the  infamy 


100  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  the  wanton  burning  of  our  nation's  Capitol,  fully,  and  foi 
all  time." 

The  speech  was  unanswered,  the  bill  passed,  and  probably 
Douglas  knew  no  prouder  moment  than  when,  a  few  months 
later,  upon  a  visit  to  the  Hermitage,  he  received  the  earnest 
thanks  of  the  venerable  commander  for  his  masterly  vin 
dication. 

Two  of  the  salient  and  far-reaching  questions  confronting 
the  statesmen  of  that  eventful  Congress  pertained  to  the 
settlement  of  the  Oregon  boundary  question,  and  to  the 
annexation  of  the  republic  of  Texas.  The  first-named  ques 
tion  —  left  unsettled  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent  —  had  been  for 
two  generations  the  apple  of  discord  between  the  American 
and  British  governments.  That  it  at  a  critical  moment  came 
near  involving  the  two  nations  in  war  is  a  well-known  fact  in 
history.  The  platform  upon  which  Mr.  Polk  had,  in  1844, 
been  elected  to  the  Presidency,  asserted  unequivocally  the 
right  of  the  United  States  to  the  whole  of  the  Oregon  Territory. 
The  boundary  line  of  "fifty-four-forty"  was  in  many  of  the 
States  the  decisive  party  watchword  in  that  masterful  contest. 

Douglas,  in  full  accord  with  his  party  upon  this  ques 
tion,  ably  canvassed  Illinois  in  earnest  advocacy  of  Mr.  Polk's 
election.  When,  at  a  later  day,  it  was  determined  by  the 
President  and  his  official  advisers  to  abandon  the  party  plat 
form  demand  of  "fifty-four  degrees  and  forty  minutes"  as 
the  only  settlement  of  the  disputed  boundary,  and  accept  that 
of  the  parallel  of  forty-nine  degrees  —  reluctantly  proposed  by 
Great  Britain  as  a  peaceable  final  settlement  —  Mr.  Douglas 
earnestly  antagonizing  any  concession,  was  at  once  in  op 
position  to  the  administration  he  had  assisted  to  bring  into 
power.  Whether  the  part  of  wisdom  was  a  strict  adherence 
to  the  platform  dicta  of  "the  whole  of  Oregon,"  or  a  reasonable 
concession  in  the  interest  of  peaceable  adjustment  of  a  dan 
gerous  question,  was  long  a  matter  of  vehement  discussion. 
It  suffices  that  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  establishing  our 
northwestern  boundary  upon  the  parallel  last  named  was 
promptly  ratified  by  the  Senate,  and  the  once  famous 
Oregon  question  peaceably  relegated  to  the  realm  of  history. 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT 


HORATIO  SEYMOUR 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  101 

A  question  —  sixty  odd  years  ago  —  equal  in  importance 
with  that  of  the  Oregon  boundary  was  the  annexation  of 
Texas.  The  uLone  Star  State"  had  been  virtually  an  in 
dependent  republic  since  the  decisive  victory  of  General 
Houston  over  Santa  Ana  in  1837  at  San  Jacinto,  and  its 
independence  as  such  had  been  acknowledged  by  our  own 
and  European  governments.  The  hardy  settlers  of  the  new 
Commonwealth  were  in  the  main  emigrants  from  the  United 
States,  and  earnestly  solicitous  of  admission  into  the  Fed 
eral  Union.  The  question  of  annexation  entered  largely 
into  the  Presidential  canvass  of  1844,  and  the  "lone  star" 
upon  Democratic  banners  was  an  important  factor  in  secur 
ing  the  triumph  of  Mr.  Polk  in  that  bitterly  contested  election. 
In  the  closing  hours  of  the  Tyler  administration,  annexation 
was  at  length  effected  by  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  and 
Texas  passed  at  once  from  an  independent  republic  to  a  State 
of  the  American  Union.  This  action  of  Congress,  however, 
gave  deep  offence  to  the  Mexican  government,  and  was  the 
initial  in  a  series  of  stirring  events  soon  to  follow.  The  Mex 
ican  invasion,  the  brilliant  victories  won  by  American  valor, 
and  the  treaty  of  peace  —  by  which  our  domain  was  extended 
westward  to  the  Pacific  —  constitute  a  thrilling  chapter  in 
the  annals  of  war.  Brief  in  duration,  the  Mexican  War  was 
the  training  school  for  men  whose  military  achievements  were 
yet  to  make  resplendent  the  pages  of  history.  Under  the 
victorious  banners  of  the  great  commanders,  Taylor  and 
Scott,  were  Thomas  and  Beauregard,  Shields  and  Hill,  John 
ston  and  Sherman,  McClellan  and  Longstreet,  Hancock  and 
Stonewall  Jackson,  Lee  and  Grant.  In  the  list  of  its  heroes 
were  eight  future  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  three  of 
whom  —  Taylor,  Pierce,  and  Grant  —  were  triumphantly 
elected. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  nation's  Capitol  was  held  high  debate 
over  questions  second  in  importance  to  none  that  have  en 
gaged  the  profound  consideration  of  statesmen  —  that  liter 
ally  took  hold  of  the  issues  of  war,  conquest,  diplomacy,  peace, 
empire.  From  its  inception,  Douglas  was  an  unfaltering 
advocate  of  the  project  of  annexation,  and  as  chairman  of 


102  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  Committee  on  Territories,  bore  prominent  part  in  the 
protracted  and  exciting  debates  consequent  upon  the  passage 
of  that  measure  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  his 
celebrated  colloquy  with  Mr.  Adams  he  contended  that  the 
joint  resolution  he  advocated  was  in  reality  only  for  the 
re-annexation  of  territory  originally  ours  under  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  of  1803.  That  something  akin  to  the  spirit  of 
" manifest  destiny"  brooded  over  the  discussion  may  be 
gathered  from  the  closing  sentences  of  his  speech: 

"Our  Federal  system  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  whole 
continent;  and  while  I  would  not  violate  the  laws  of  nations 
or  treaty  stipulations,  or  in  any  manner  tarnish  the  national 
honor,  I  would  exert  all  legal  and  honorable  means  to  drive 
Great  Britain  and  the  last  vestige  of  royal  authority  from  the 
continent  of  North  America,  and  extend  the  limits  of  the 
republic  from  ocean  to  ocean." 

Elected  to  the  Senate  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  Doug 
las  took  his  seat  in  that  august  body  in  December,  1847.  On 
the  same  day  Abraham  Lincoln  took  the  oath  of  office  as  a 
member  from  Illinois  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
Senate  was  presided  over  by  the  able  and  accomplished  Vice- 
President,  George  M.  Dallas.  Seldom  has  there  been  a 
more  imposing  list  of  great  names  than  that  which  now  in 
cluded  the  young  Senator  from  Illinois.  Conspicuous  among 
the  Senators  of  the  thirty  States  represented,  were  Dix  of 
New  York,  Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  Hale  of  New  Hampshire, 
Clayton  of  Delaware,  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Maryland,  Mason 
of  Virginia,  King  of  Alabama,  Davis  of  Mississippi,  Bell  of 
Tennessee,  Corwin  of  Ohio,  Crittenden  of  Kentucky,  Breese 
of  Illinois,  Benton  of  Missouri,  Houston  of  Texas,  Calhoun 
of  South  Carolina,  and  Webster  of  Massachusetts.  It  need 
hardly  be  said  that  the  debates  of  that  and  the  immediately 
succeeding  Congress  have  possibly  never  been  surpassed  in 
ability  and  eloquence  by  any  deliberative  assembly. 

The  one  vital  and  portentous  question  —  in  some  one  of 
its  many  phases  —  was  that  of  human  slavery.  This  in 
stitution  —  until  its  final  extinction  amid  the  flames  of  war  — 
cast  its  ominous  shadow  over  our  nation's  pathway  from  the 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  103 

beginning.  From  the  establishment  of  the  Government 
under  the  Federal  Constitution  to  the  period  mentioned,  it 
had  been  the  constant  subject  of  compromise  and  concession. 

Henry  Clay  was  first  known  as  "the  great  pacificator" 
by  his  tireless  efforts  in  the  exciting  struggle  of  1820,  over 
the  admission  of  Missouri  —  with  its  Constitution  recognizing 
slavery  —  into  the  Federal  Union.  Bowed  with  the  weight 
of  years,  the  Kentucky  statesman,  from  the  retirement  he 
had  sought,  in  recognition  of  the  general  desire  of  his  coun 
trymen,  again  returned  to  the  theatre  of  his  early  struggles 
and  triumphs.  The  fires  of  ambition  had  burned  low  by  age 
and  bereavement,  but  with  earnest  longing  that  he  might 
again  pour  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters,  he  presented  to  the 
Senate,  as  terms  of  final  peaceable  adjustment  of  the  slavery 
question,  the  once  famous  compromise  measures  of  1850. 

The  sectional  agitation  then  at  its  height  was  measurably 
the  result  of  the  proposed  disposition  of  territory  acquired 
by  the  then  recent  treaty  with  Mexico.  The  advocates  and 
opponents  of  slavery  extension  were  at  once  in  bitter  antag 
onism,  and  the  intensity  of  feeling  such  as  the  country  had 
rarely  known. 

The  compromise  measures  —  proposed  by  Mr.  Clay  in  a 
general  bill  —  embraced  the  establishment  of  Territorial 
Governments  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  the  settlement  of 
the  Texas  boundary,  an  amendment  to  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  and  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  State.  In 
entire  accord  with  each  proposition,  Douglas  had  —  by 
direction  of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  of  which  he  was 
the  chairman  —  reported  a  bill  providing  for  the  immediate 
admission  of  California  under  its  recently  adopted  free  State 
Constitution.  Separate  measures  embracing  the  other  propo 
sitions  of  the  general  bill  were  likewise  duly  reported. 
These  measures  were  advocated  by  the  Illinois  Senator  in  a 
speech  that  at  once  won  him  recognized  place  among  the  great 
debaters  of  that  illustrious  assemblage.  After  many  weeks 
of  earnest,  at  times  vehement,  debate,  the  bills  in  the  form 
last  mentioned  were  passed,  and  received  the  approval  of 
the  President.  Apart  from  the  significance  of  these  measures 


104  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

as  a  peace  offering  to  the  country,  their  passage  closed  a 
memorable  era  in  our  history.  During  their  discussion  Clay, 
Calhoun,  and  Webster — "the  illustrious  triumvirate"  — 
were  heard  for  the  last  time  in  the  Senate.  Greatest  of  the 
second  generation  of  our  statesmen,  associated  in  the 
advocacy  of  measures  that  in  the  early  day  of  the  Republic 
had  given  us  exalted  place  among  the  nations,  within  brief 
time  of  each  other,  "shattered  by  the  contentions  of  the 
Great  Hall,  they  passed  to  the  chamber  of  reconciliation  and 
of  silence." 

Chief  in  importance  of  his  public  services  to  his  State 
was  that  of  Senator  Douglas  in  procuring  from  Congress  a 
land  grant  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad.  It  is  but  justice  to  the  memory  of  his  early  col 
league,  Senator  Breese,  to  say  that  he  had  been  the  earnest 
advocate  of  a  similar  measure  in  a  former  Congress.  The 
bill,  however,  which  after  persistent  opposition  finally  became 
a  law,  was  introduced  and  warmly  advocated  by  Senator 
Douglas.  This  act  ceded  to  the  State  of  Illinois  —  subject 
to  the  disposal  of  the  Legislature  thereof  —  "for  the  purpose 
of  aiding  in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  to  a  point  at  or 
near  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  with  a 
branch  of  the  same  to  Chicago,  and  another  to  Dubuque, 
Iowa,  every  alternate  section  of  land  designated  by  even 
numbers  for  six  sections  in  width  on  each  side  of  said  road, 
and  its  branches."  It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  realize  the 
importance  of  this  measure  to  the  then  sparsely  settled  State. 
The  grant  in  aggregate  was  near  three  million  acres,  and  was 
directly  to  the  State.  After  appropriate  action  by  the  State 
Legislature,  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  was  duly 
organized  —  and  the  road  eventually  constructed. 

A  recent  historian  has  truly  said : 

"For  this,  if  for  no  other  public  service  to  his  State,  the 
name  of  Douglas  was  justly  entitled  to  preservation  by  the 
erection  of  that  splendid  monumental  column  which,  overlook 
ing  the  blue  waters  of  Lake  Michigan,  also  overlooks  for  long 
distance  that  iron  highway  which  was  in  no  small  degree  the 
triumph  of  his  legislative  forecast  and  genius." 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  105 

The  measure  now  to  be  mentioned  aroused  deeper  atten 
tion  —  more  anxious  concern  —  throughout  the  entire  coun 
try  than  any  with  which  the  name  of  Douglas  had  yet  been 
closely  associated.  It  pertained  directly  to  slavery,  the 
"bone  of  contention"  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
the  one  dangerous  quantity  in  our  national  politics  from 
the  establishment  of  the  Government.  Beginning  with  its 
recognition  —  though  not  in  direct  terms  —  in  the  Federal 
Constitution,  it  had  through  two  generations,  in  the  interest 
of  peace,  been  the  subject  of  repeated  compromise. 

As  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Territories, 
Douglas  in  the  early  days  of  1854  reported  a  bill  providing 
for  the  organization  of  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kan 
sas.  This  measure,  which  so  suddenly  arrested  public  at 
tention,  is  known  in  our  political  history  as  the  "  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill."  Among  its  provisions  was  one  repealing  the 
Missouri  Compromise  or  restriction  of  1820.  The  end  sought 
by  the  repeal  was,  as  stated  by  Douglas,  to  leave  the 
people  of  said  Territories  respectively  to  determine  the  ques 
tion  of  the  introduction  or  exclusion  of  slavery  for  themselves; 
in  other  words,  "to  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in 
their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States."  The  principle  strenuously  contended  for  was  that 
of  "popular  sovereignty"  or  non-intervention  by  Congress, 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Territories.  In  closing  the  protracted 
and  exciting  debate  just  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the 
Senate,  he  said: 

"There  is  another  reason  why  I  desire  to  see  this  principle 
recognized  as  a  rule  of  action  in  all  time  to  come.  It  will  have 
the  effect  to  destroy  all  sectional  parties  and  sectional  agitation. 
If  you  withdraw  the  slavery  question  from  the  halls  of  Congress 
and  the  political  arena,  and  commit  it  to  the  arbitrament  of 
those  who  are  immediately  interested  in  and  alone  responsible 
for  its  consequences,  there  is  nothing  left  out  of  which  sectional 
parties  can  be  organized.  When  the  people  of  the  North  shall 
all  be  rallied  under  one  banner,  and  the  whole  South  marshalled 
under  another  banner,  and  each  section  excited  to  frenzy  and 
madness  by  hostility  to  the  institutions  of  the  other,  then  the 
patriot  may  well  tremble  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  With 
draw  the  slavery  question  from  the  political  arena  and  remove  it 


106  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  1  HAVE  KNOWN 

to  the  States  and  Territories,  each  to  decide  for  itself,  and  such 
a  catastrophe  can  never  happen." 

These  utterances  of  little  more  than  half  a  century  ago, 
fall  strangely  upon  our  ears  at  this  day.  In  the  light  of  all 
that  has  occurred  in  the  long  reach  of  years,  how  significant 
the  words,  "No  man  is  wiser  than  events"!  Likewise,  "The 
actions  of  men  are  to  be  judged  by  the  light  surrounding  them 
at  the  time  —  not  by  the  knowledge  that  comes  after  the 
fact."  The  immediate  effect  of  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  was  directly  the  reverse  of  that  so  confidently 
predicted  by  Douglas.  The  era  of  concord  between  the 
North  and  the  South  did  not  return.  The  slavery  question 
—  instead  of  being  relegated  to  the  recently  organized  Terri 
tories  for  final  settlement  —  at  once  assumed  the  dimensions 
of  a  great  national  issue.  The  country  at  large  —  instead  of 
a  single  Territory  —  became  the  theatre  of  excited  discussion. 
The  final  determination  was  to  be  not  that  of  a  Territory,  but 
of  the  entire  people. 

One  significant  effect  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  the 
immediate  disruption  of  the  Whig  party.  As  a  great  na 
tional  organization  —  of  which  Clay  and  Webster  had  been 
eminent  leaders,  and  Harrison  and  Taylor  successful  can 
didates  for  the  Presidency — it  now  passes  into  history.  Up 
on  its  ruins,  the  Republican  party  at  once  came  into  being. 
Under  the  leadership  of  Fremont  as  its  candidate,  and  op 
position  by  Congressional  intervention  to  slavery  extension 
as  its  chief  issue,  it  was  a  formidable  antagonist  to  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  in  the  Presidential  contest  of  1856.  Mr. 
Buchanan  had  defeated  Douglas  in  the  nominating  convention 
of  his  party  that  year.  His  absence  from  the  country  as 
Minister  to  England,  during  the  exciting  events  just  men 
tioned,  it  was  thought  would  make  him  a  safer  candidate 
than  his  chief  competitor,  Douglas.  He  had  been  in  no 
manner  identified  with  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  or  the 
stormy  events  which  immediately  followed  its  passage.  In 
his  letter  of  acceptance,  however,  Mr.  Buchanan  had  given 
his  unqualified  approval  of  his  party  platform,  which  recog 
nized  and  adopted  "the  principle  contained  in  the  organic 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  107 

law  establishing  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  as 
embodying  the  only  sound  and  safe  solution  of  the  slavery 
question."  Upon  the  principle  here  declared,  issue  was 
joined  by  his  political  opponents,  and  the  battle  fought  to 
the  bitter  end. 

Although  Douglas  had  met  personal  defeat  in  his  aspi 
ration  to  the  Presidency,  the  principle  of  non-intervention 
by  Congress  in  the  affairs  of  the  Territories,  for  which  he 
had  so  earnestly  contended,  had  been  triumphant  both  in 
the  convention  of  the  party,  and  at  the  polls.  This  principle, 
in  its  application  to  Kansas,  was  soon  to  be  put  to  the  test. 
From  its  organization,  that  Territory  had  been  a  continuous 
scene  of  disorder,  often  of  violence.  In  rapid  succession 
three  Governors  appointed  by  the  President  had  resigned 
and  departed  the  Territory,  each  confessing  his  inability  to 
maintain  public  order.  The  struggle  for  mastery  between 
the  Free  State  advocates  and  their  adversaries  arrested  the 
attention  of  the  entire  country.  It  vividly  recalled  the 
bloody  forays  read  of  in  the  old  chronicles  of  hostile  clans 
upon  the  Scottish  border. 

The  parting  of  the  ways  between  Senator  Douglas  and 
President  Buchanan  was  now  reached.  The  latter  had 
received  the  cordial  support  of  Douglas  in  the  election 
which  elevated  him  to  the  Presidency.  His  determined 
opposition  to  the  reelection  of  Douglas  became  apparent 
as  the  Senatorial  canvass  progressed.  The  incidents  now 
to  be  related  will  explain  this  hostility,  as  well  as  bring  to 
the  front  one  of  the  distinctive  questions  upon  which  much 
stress  was  laid  in  the  subsequent  debates  between  Douglas 
and  Lincoln. 

A  statesman  of  national  reputation,  the  Hon.  Robert  J. 
Walker,  was  at  length  appointed  Governor  of  Kansas.  Dur 
ing  his  brief  administration  a  convention  assembled  without 
his  cooperation  at  Lecompton,  and  formulated  a  Constitu 
tion  under  which  application  was  soon  made  for  the  admis 
sion  of  Kansas  into  the  Union.  This  convention  was  in  part 
composed  of  non-residents,  and  in  no  sense  reflected  the 
wishes  of  the  majority  of  the  bona  fide  residents  of  the 


108  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Territory.  The  salient  feature  of  the  Constitution  was  that 
establishing  slavery.  The  Constitution  was  not  submitted 
by  the  convention  to  popular  vote,  but  in  due  time  forwarded 
to  the  President,  and  by  him  laid  before  Congress,  accom 
panied  by  a  recommendation  for  its  approval,  and  the  early 
admission  of  the  new  State  into  the  Union. 

When  the  Lecompton  Constitution  came  before  the 
Senate,  it  at  once  encountered  the  formidable  opposition  of 
Senator  Douglas.  In  unmeasured  terms  he  denounced  it  as 
fraudulent,  as  antagonistic  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of 
Kansas,  and  subversive  of  the  basic  principle  upon  which 
the  Territory  had  been  organized.  In  the  attitude  just 
assumed,  Douglas  at  once  found  himself  in  line  with  the 
Republicans,  and  in  opposition  to  the  administration  he 
had  helped  to  place  in  power.  The  breach  thus  created 
was  destined  to  remain  unhealed.  Moreover,  his  declara 
tion  of  hostility  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end  of  years  of  close  political  affiliation 
with  Southern  Democratic  statesmen.  From  that  moment 
Douglas  lost  prestige  as  a  national  leader  of  his  party. 
In  more  than  one-half  of  the  Democratic  States  he  ceased  to 
be  regarded  as  a  probable  or  even  possible  candidate  for 
the  Presidential  succession.  The  hostility  thus  engendered 
followed  him  to  the  Charleston  convention  of  1860,  and 
throughout  the  exciting  Presidential  contest  which  followed. 
But  the  humiliation  of  defeat  —  brought  about,  as  he  believed, 
by  personal  hostility  to  himself  —  was  yet  in  the  future.  In 
the  attempted  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  Douglas  was  triumphant  over  the  adminis 
tration  and  his  former  political  associates  from  the  South. 
Under  what  was  known  as  the  "  English  Amendment,"  the 
obnoxious  Constitution  was  referred  to  the  people  of  Kan 
sas,  and  by  them  overwhelmingly  rejected. 

The  close  of  this  controversy  in  the  early  months  of  1858 
left  Douglas  in  a  position  of  much  embarrassment.  He 
had  incurred  the  active  hostility  of  the  President,  and  in 
large  measure  of  his  adherents,  without  gaining  the  future 
aid  of  his  late  associates  in  the  defeat  of  the  Lecompton 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  109 

Constitution.  His  Senatorial  term  was  nearing  its  close, 
and  his  political  life  depended  upon  his  reelection.  With  a 
united  and  aggressive  enemy,  ably  led,  in  his  front ;  his  own 
party  hopelessly  divided  —  one  faction  seeking  his  defeat  —  it 
can  readily  be  seen  that  his  political  pathway  was  by  no 
means  one  of  peace.  Such,  in  brief  outline,  were  the  polit 
ical  conditions  when,  upon  the  adjournment  of  Congress, 
Douglas  returned  to  Illinois  in  July,  1858,  and  made  public 
announcement  of  his  candidacy  for  reelection. 

In  his  speech  at  Springfield,  June  17,  accepting  the  nom 
ination  of  his  party  for  the  Senate,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  uttered 
the  words  which  have  since  become  historic.  They  are 
quoted  at  length,  as  they  soon  furnished  the  text  for  his 
severe  arraignment  by  Douglas  in  debate.  The  words  are: 

"  We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initi 
ated  with  the  avowed  object  and  confident  promise  of  putting  an 
end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  that  policy, 
that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  aug 
mented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis  shall  have 
been  reached  and  passed.  '  A  house  divided  against  itself  can 
not  stand.'  I  believe  this  country  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis 
solved  —  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it 
will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the 
other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further 
spread  of  it  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the 
belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advo 
cates  will  push  it  forward  until  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in 
all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South." 

This,  at  the  time,  was  a  bold  utterance,  and,  it  was 
believed  by  many,  would  imperil  Mr.  Lincoln's  chances  for 
election.  Mr.  Elaine  in  his  "  Twenty  Years  of  Congress," 

says: 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  warned  by  intimate  friends  to  whom 
he  had  communicated  the  contents  of  his  speech  in  advance  of 
its  delivery,  that  he  was  treading  on  dangerous  ground,  that  he 
would  be  misrepresented  as  a  disunionist,  and  that  he  might 
fatally  damage  the  Republican  party  by  making  its  existence 
synonymous  with  a  destruction  of  the  Government." 

The  opening  speech  of  Senator  Douglas  at  Chicago  a  few 


110  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

days  later  —  sounding  the  keynote  of  his  campaign  —  was 
in  the  main  an  arraignment  of  his  opponent  for  an  attempt 
to  precipitate  an  internecine  conflict,  and  array  in  deadly 
hostility  the  North  against  the  South.  He  said: 

"In  other  words,  Mr.  Lincoln  advocates  boldly  and  clearly 
a  war  of  sections,  a  war  of  the  North  against  the  South,  of  the 
free  States  against  the  slave  States  —  a  war  of  extermination — 
to  be  continued  relentlessly  until  the  one  or  the  other  shall  be 
subdued,  and  all  the  States  shall  either  become  free  or  become 
slave." 

The  two  speeches,  followed  by  others  of  like  tenor, 
aroused  public  interest  in  the  State  as  it  had  never  been  be 
fore.  The  desire  to  hear  the  candidates  from  the  same  plat 
form  became  general.  The  proposal  for  a  joint  debate 
came  from  Mr.  Lincoln  on  July  24  and  was  soon  there 
after  accepted.  Seven  joint  meetings  were  agreed  upon, 
the  first  to  be  at  Ottawa,  August  21,  and  the  last  at  Alton, 
October  15.  The  meetings  were  held  in  the  open,  and  at 
each  place  immense  crowds  were  in  attendance.  The  friends 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  largely  preponderated  in  the  northern  por 
tion  of  the  State,  those  of  Douglas  in  the  southern,  while 
in  the  centre  the  partisans  of  the  respective  candidates 
were  apparently  equal  in  numbers.  The  interest  never 
flagged  for  a  moment  from  the  beginning  to  the  close.  The 
debate  was  upon  a  high  plane;  each  candidate  enthusiastic 
ally  applauded  by  his  friends,  and  respectfully  heard  by  his 
opponents.  The  speakers  were  men  of  dignified  presence, 
their  bearing  such  as  to  challenge  respect  in  any  assem 
blage.  There  was  nothing  of  the  ''grotesque"  about  the 
one,  nothing  of  the  " political  juggler"  about  the  other. 
Both  were  deeply  impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  questions 
at  issue,  and  of  what  might  prove  their  far-reaching  con 
sequence  to  the  country. 

Kindly  reference  by  each  speaker  to  the  other  character 
ized  the  debates  from  the  beginning.  "My  friend  Lincoln," 
and  "  My  friend  the  Judge,"  were  expressions  of  constant 
occurrence  during  the  debates.  While  each  mercilessly 
attacked  the  political  utterances  of  the  other,  good  feeling 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  111 

in  the  main  prevailed.  Something  being  pardoned  to  the 
spirit  of  debate,  the  amenities  were  well  observed.  They 
had  been  personally  well  known  to  each  other  for  many 
years;  had  served  together  in  the  Legislature  when  the  State 
Capitol  was  at  Vandalia,  and  at  a  later  date,  Lincoln  had 
appeared  before  the  Supreme  Court  when  Douglas  was  one 
of  the  judges.  The  amusing  allusions  to  each  other  were 
taken  in  good  part.  Mr.  Lincoln's  profound  humor  is  now 
a  proverb.  It  never  appeared  to  better  advantage  than 
during  these  debates.  In  criticising  Mr.  Lincoln's  attack 
upon  Chief  Justice  Taney  and  his  associates  for  the  Dred 
Scott  decision,  Douglas  declared  it  to  be  an  attempt  to 
secure  a  reversal  of  the  high  tribunal  by  an  appeal  to  a  town 
meeting.  It  reminded  him  of  the  saying  of  Colonel  Strode 
that  the  judicial  system  of  Illinois  was  perfect,  except  that 
"  there  should  be  an  appeal  allowed  from  the  Supreme  Court 
to  two  justices  of  the  peace."  Lincoln  replied,  "  That  was 
when  you  were  on  the  bench,  Judge."  Referring  to  Doug 
las's  allusion  to  him  as  a  kind,  amiable,  and  intelligent  gen 
tleman,  he  said: 

"  Then  as  the  Judge  has  complimented  me  with  these  pleasant 
titles,  I  was  a  little  taken,  for  it  came  from  a  great  man.  I  was 
not  very  much  accustomed  to  flattery  and  it  came  the  sweeter 
to  me.  I  was  like  the  Hoosier  with  the  gingerbread,  when  he 
said  he  reckoned  he  loved  it  better  and  got  less  of  it  than  any 
other  man." 

In  opening  the  debate  at  Ottawa,  Douglas  said : 

"  In  the  remarks  I  have  made  on  the  platform  and  the  posi 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  mean  nothing  personally  disrespectful  or 
unkind  to  that  gentleman.  I  have  known  him  for  twenty-five 
years.  There  were  many  points  of  sympathy  between  us  when 
we  first  got  acquainted.  We  were  both  comparatively  boys,  and 
both  struggling  with  poverty  in  a  strange  land.  I  was  a  school 
teacher  in  the  town  of  Winchester,  and  he  a  flourishing  grocery- 
keeper  in  the  town  of  Salem.  He  was  more  successful  in  his 
occupation  than  I  was  in  mine,  and  hence  more  fortunate  in 
this  world's  goods.  Lincoln  is  one  of  those  peculiar  men  who 
perform  with  admirable  skill  everything  which  they  undertake. 
I  made  as  good  a  school-teacher  as  I  could,  and  when  a  cabinet 
maker  I  made  a  good  bedstead  and  table,  although  my  old  boss 


112  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

said  I  succeeded  better  with  bureaus  and  secretaries  than  any 
thing  else.  I  met  him  in  the  Legislature  and  had  a  sympathy 
with  him  because  of  the  up-hill  struggle  we  both  had  in  life.  He 
was  then  just  as  good  at  telling  an  anecdote  as  now.  He  could 
beat  any  of  the  boys  wrestling  or  running  a  foot-race,  in  pitching 
quoits  or  tossing  a  copper,  and  the  dignity  and  impartiality  with 
which  he  presided  at  a  horse-race  or  a  fist-fight,  excited  the  admi 
ration  and  won  the  praise  of  everybody.  I  sympathized  with 
him  because  he  was  struggling  with  difficulties,  and  so  was  I." 
To  which  Lincoln  replied: 

"The  Judge  is  woefully  at  fault  about  his  friend  Lincoln  being 
a  grocery-keeper.  I  don't  know  as  it  would  be  a  sin  if  I  had  been  ; 
but  he  is  mistaken.  Lincoln  never  kept  a  grocery  anywhere  in 
the  world.  It  is  true  that  Lincoln  did  work  the  latter  part  of 
one  Winter  in  a  little  still  house  up  at  the  head  of  a  hollow." 

The  serious  phases  of  the  debates  will  now  be  considered. 
The  opening  speech  was  by  Mr.  Douglas.  That  he  possessed 
rare  power  as  a  debater,  all  who  heard  him  can  bear  witness. 
Mr.  Blaine  in  his  history  says : 

"  His  mind  was  fertile  in  resources.  He  was  master  of  logic. 
In  that  peculiar  style  of  debate  which  in  its  intensity  resembles 
a  physical  combat,  he  had  no  equal.  He  spoke  with  extraor 
dinary  readiness.  He  used  good  English,  terse,  pointed,  vig 
orous.  He  disregarded  the  adornments  of  rhetoric.  He  never 
cited  historic  precedents  except  from  the  domain  of  American 
politics.  Inside  that  field,  his  knowledge  was  comprehensive, 
minute,  critical.  He  could  lead  a  crowd  almost  irresistibly  to 
his  own  conclusions. " 

Douglas  was,  in  very  truth,  imbued  with  little  of  mere 
sentiment.  He  gave  little  time  to  discussions  belonging 
solely  to  the  realm  of  the  speculative  or  the  abstract.  He  was 
in  no  sense  a  dreamer.  What  Coleridge  has  defined  wisdom  — 
" common  sense,  in  an  uncommon  degree"  —  was  his.  In 
phrase  the  simplest  and  most  telling,  he  struck  at  once  at  the 
very  core  of  the  controversy.  Possibly  no  man  was  ever  less 
inclined  "to  darken  counsel  with  words  without  knowledge." 
Positive,  and  aggressive  to  the  last  degree,  he  never  sought 
1 '  by  indirections  to  find  directions  out. ' '  In  statesmanship  — 
in  all  that  pertained  to  human  affairs  —  he  was  intensely 
practical.  With  him,  in  the  words  of  Macaulay,  "one  acre  in 
Middlesex  is  worth  a  principality  in  Utopia." 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  113 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  recall  —  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century 
—  the  two  men  as  they  shook  hands  upon  the  speaker's  stand, 
just  before  the  opening  of  the  debates  that  were  to  mark  an 
epoch  in  American  history.  Stephen  A.  Douglas!  Abraham 
Lincoln!  As  they  stood  side  by  side  and  looked  out  upon 
"  the  sea  of  upturned  faces"  —  it  was  indeed  a  picture  to  live 
in  the  memory  of  all  who  witnessed  it.  The  one  stood  for  the 
old  ordering  of  things,  in  an  emphatic  sense  for  the  Govern 
ment  as  established  by  the  fathers  —  with  all  its  compro 
mises.  The  other,  recognizing  equally  with  his  opponent 
the  binding  force  of  Constitutional  obligation,  yet  looking 
away  from  present  surroundings,  "felt  the  inspiration  of  the 
coming  of  the  grander  day."  As  has  been  well  said,  "the 
one  faced  the  past;  the  other,  the  future." 

The  name  of  Lincoln  is  now  a  household  word.  But  little 
can  be  written  of  him  that  is  not  already  known  to  the  world. 
Nothing  that  can  be  uttered  or  withheld  can  add  to,  or  detract 
from,  his  imperishable  fame.  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  his  great  opportunity  and  fame  came  after  the  stirring 
events  separated  from  us  by  the  passing  of  fifty  years.  It  is 
not  the  Lincoln  of  history,  but  Lincoln  the  country  lawyer, 
the  debater,  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  political  office, 
with  whom  we  have  now  to  do.  Born  in  Kentucky,  much  of 
his  early  life  was  spent  in  Indiana,  and  all  his  professional 
and  public  life  up  to  his  election  to  the  Presidency,  in  Illinois. 
His  early  opportunities  for  study,  like  those  of  Douglas, 
were  meagre  indeed.  Neither  had  had  the  advantage  of  the 
thorough  training  of  the  schools.  Of  both  it  might  truly 
have  been  said,  "They  knew  men  rather  than  books."  From 
his  log-cabin  home  upon  the  Sangamon,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  in 
his  early  manhood  volunteered,  and  was  made  captain  of  his 
company,  in  what  was  so  well  known  to  the  early  settlers  of 
Illinois  as  the  Black  Hawk  War.  Later  on,  he  was  sur 
veyor  of  his  county,  and  three  times  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature.  At  the  time  of  the  debates  with  Senator  Doug 
las,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  for  many  years  been  a  resident  of  Spring 
field,  and  a  recognized  leader  of  the  bar.  As  an  advocate, 
he  had  probably  no  superior  in  the  State.  During  the  days 


114  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  the  Whig  party  he  was  an  earnest  exponent  of  its  principles, 
and  an  able  champion  of  its  candidates.  As  such,  he  had  in 
successive  contests  eloquently  presented  the  claims  of  Harri 
son,  Clay,  Taylor,  and  Scott  to  the  Presidency.  In  1846,  he 
was  elected  a  Representative  in  Congress,  and  upon  his  re 
tirement  he  resumed  the  active  practice  of  his  profession. 
Upon  the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party,  he  cast  in  his  fortunes 
with  the  new  political  organization,  and  was  in  very  truth 
one  of  the  builders  of  the  Republican  party.  At  its  first 
national  convention,  in  1856,  he  received  a  large  vote  for 
nomination  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  during  the  memor 
able  campaign  of  that  year  canvassed  the  State  in  advocacy 
of  the  election  of  Fremont  and  Dayton,  the  candidates  of  the 
Philadelphia  convention. 

In  the  year  1858  —  that  of  the  great  debates  —  Douglas 
was  the  better  known  of  the  opposing  candidates  in  the 
country  at  large.  In  a  speech  then  recently  delivered  in 
Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  said: 

"There  is  still  another  disadvantage  under  which  we  labor 
and  to  which  I  will  ask  your  attention.  It  arises  out  of  the 
relative  positions  of  the  two  persons  who  stand  before  the  State 
as  candidates  for  the  Senate.  Senator  Douglas  is  of  world 
wide  renown.  All  the  anxious  politicians  of  his  party  have  been 
looking  upon  him  as  certainly  at  no  distant  day  to  be  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  They  have  seen  in  his  ruddy,  jolly, 
fruitful  face,  postoffices,  land-offices,  marshalships,  and  cabinet 
appointments,  and  foreign  missions,  bursting  and  sprouting  out 
in  wonderful  exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by  their  greedy 
hands.  On  the  contrary,  nobody  has  ever  seen  in  my  poor  lank 
face  that  any  cabbages  were  sprouting  out." 

Both,  however,  were  personally  well  known  in  Illinois. 
Each  was  by  unanimous  nomination  the  candidate  of  his 
party.  Douglas  had  known  sixteen  years  of  continuous 
service  in  one  or  the  other  House  of  Congress.  In  the  Senate, 
he  had  held  high  debate  with  Seward,  Sumner,  and  Chase 
from  the  North,  and  during  the  last  session  —  since  he  had 
assumed  a  position  of  antagonism  to  the  Buchanan  adminis 
tration  —  had  repeatedly  measured  swords  with  Tombs, 
Benjamin,  and  Jefferson  Davis,  chief  among  the  great  de 
baters  of  the  South. 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  115 

Mr.  Lincoln's  services  in  Congress  had  been  limited  to  a 
single  term  in  the  lower  house,  and  his  great  fame  was  yet  to 
be  achieved,  not  as  a  legislator,  but  as  Chief  Executive  dur 
ing  the  most  critical  years  of  our  history. 

Such,  in  brief,  were  the  opposing  candidates  as  they  entered 
the  lists  of  debate  at  Ottawa,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of 
August,  1858.  Both  were  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  thor 
oughly  equipped  for  the  conflict,  and  surrounded  by 
throngs  of  devoted  friends.  Both  were  gifted  with  remarkable 
forensic  powers  and  alike  hopeful  as  to  the  result.  Each 
recognizing  fully  the  strength  of  his  opponent,  his  own 
powers  were  constantly  at  their  tension. 

"  The  blood  more  stirs 
To  rouse  a  lion  than  to  start  a  hare." 

In  opening,  Senator  Douglas  made  brief  reference  to  the 
political  condition  of  the  country  prior  to  the  year  1854.  He 
said: 

"The  Whig  and  the  Democratic  were  the  two  great  parties 
then  in  existence;  both  national  and  patriotic,  advocating  princi 
ples  that  were  universal  in  their  application;  while  these  parties 
differed  in  regard  to  banks,  tariff,  and  sub-treasury,  they  agreed 
on  the  slavery  question  which  now  agitates  the  Union.  They 
had  adopted  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  as  the  basis  of 
a  full  solution  of  the  slavery  question  in  all  its  forms;  that  these 
measures  had  received  the  endorsement  of  both  parties  in  their 
National  Conventions  of  1852,  thus  affirming  the  right  of  the  people 
of  each  State  and  Territory  to  decide  as  to  their  domestic  insti 
tutions  for  themselves;  that  this  principle  was  embodied  in  the 
bill  reported  by  me  in  1854  for  the  organization  of  the  Territories 
of  Kansas  and  Nebraska;  in  order  that  there  might  be  no  mis 
understanding,  these  words  were  inserted  in  that  bill :  '  It  is  the 
true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act,  not  to  legislate  slavery  into 
any  State  or  Territory,  or  to  exclude  it  therefrom,  but  to  leave 
the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domes 
tic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Federal 
Constitution. ' ' 

Turning  to  his  opponent,  he  said: 

"  I  desire  to  know  whether  Mr.  Lincoln  to-day  stands  as  he 
did  in  1854  in  favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law;  whether  he  stands  pledged  to-day  as  he  did  in  1854 
against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  Union, 


116  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

even  if  the  people  want  them;  whether  he  stands  pledged  against 
the  admission  of  a  new  State  into  the  Union  with  such  a  Consti 
tution  as  the  people  of  that  State  may  see  fit  to  make.  I  want 
to  know  whether  he  stands  to-day  pledged  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  I  desire  to  know  whether  he 
stands  pledged  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States  north  as  well  as  south  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
line.  I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  is  opposed  to  acquisition 
of  any  more  territory  unless  slavery  is  prohibited  therein.  I  want 
his  answer  to  these  questions." 

Douglas  then  addressed  himself  to  the  already  quoted 
words  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Springfield  speech  commencing:  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  He  declared  the 
Government  had  existed  for  seventy  years  divided  into  free 
and  slave  States  as  our  fathers  made  it;  that  at  the  time  the 
Constitution  was  framed  there  were  thirteen  States,  twelve 
of  which  were  slave-holding,  and  one  a  free  State;  that  if 
the  doctrine  preached  by  Mr.  Lincoln  that  all  should  be  free 
or  all  slave  had  prevailed,  the  twelve  would  have  overruled 
the  one,  and  slavery  would  have  been  established  by  the 
Constitution  on  every  inch  of  the  Republic,  instead  of  be 
ing  left,  as  our  fathers  wisely  left  it,  for  each  State  to  decide 
for  itself.  He  then  declared  that: 

"  Uniformity  in  the  local  laws  and  institutions  of  the  differ 
ent  States  is  neither  possible  nor  desirable;  that  if  uniformity  had 
been  adopted  when  the  Government  was  established  it  must 
inevitably  have  been  the  uniformity  of  slavery  everywhere,  or 
the  uniformity  of  negro  citizenship  and  negro  equality  every 
where.  I  hold  that  humanity  and  Christianity  both  require  that 
the  negro  shall  have  and  enjoy  every  right  and  every  privilege 
and  every  immunity  consistent  with  the  safety  of  the  society 
in  which  he  lives.  The  question  then  arises,  What  rights  and 
privileges  are  consistent  with  the  public  good  ?  This  is  a  question 
which  each  State  and  each  Territory  must  decide  for  itself.  Illi 
nois  has  decided  it  for  herself." 

He  then  said: 

"  Now,  my  friends,  if  we  will  only  act  conscientiously  upon 
this  great  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  it  guarantees  to  each 
State  and  Territory  the  right  to  do  as  it  pleases  on  all  things 
local  and  domestic;  instead  of  Congress  interfering,  we  will 
continue  at  peace  one  with  another.  This  doctrine  of  Mr.  Lin- 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  117 

coin  of  uniformity  among  the  institutions  of  the  different  States 
is  a  new  doctrine  never  dreamed  of  by  Washington,  Madison,  or 
the  framers  of  the  Government.  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  party  set 
themselves  up  as  wiser  than  the  founders  of  the  Government, 
which  has  flourished  for  seventy  years  under  the  principle  of 
popular  sovereignty,  recognizing'the  right  of  each  State  to  do  as 
it  pleased.  Under  that  principle,  we  have  grown  from  a  nation 
of  three  or  four  millions  to  one  of  thirty  millions  of  people.  We 
have  crossed  the  mountains  and  filled  up  the  whole  Northwest, 
turning  the  prairies  into  a  garden,  and  building  up  churches  and 
schools,  thus  spreading  civilization  and  Christianity  where  be 
fore  there  was  nothing  but  barbarism.  Under  that  principle  we 
have  become  from  a  feeble  nation  the  most  powerful  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  if  we  only  adhere  to  that  principle  we 
can  go  forward  increasing  in  territory,  in  power,  in  strength, 
and  in  glory,  until  the  Republic  of  America  shall  be  the  North 
Star  that  shall  guide  the  friends  of  freedom  throughout  the  civ 
ilized  world.  I  believe  that  this  new  doctrine  preached  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  will  dissolve  the  Union  if  it  succeeds;  trying  to  array 
all  the  Northern  States  in  one  body  against  the  Southern;  to 
excite  a  sectional  war  between  the  free  States  and  the  slave  States 
in  order  that  the  one  or  the  other  may  be  driven  to  the  wall." 
Mr.  Lincoln  said  in  reply: 

"  I  think  and  shall  try  to  show,  that  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  is  wrong  —  wrong  in  its  direct  effect,  letting  slavery 
into  Kansas  and  Nebraska;  wrong  in  its  prospective  principle, 
allowing  it  to  spread  to  every  other  part  of  the  wide  world  where 
men  can  be  found  inclined  to  take  it.  This  declared  indifference, 
but  as  I  must  think  covert  zeal  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  can 
not  but  hate.  I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous  injustice  of 
slavery  itself.  I  hate  it  because  it  deprives  our  Republic  of  an 
example  of  its  just  influence  in  the  world  —  enables  the  enemies 
of  free  institutions  with  plausibility  to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites. 
I  have  no  prejudices  against  the  Southern  people;  they  are 
just  what  we  would  be  in  their  situation.  If  slavery  did  not  exist 
among  them,  they  would  not  introduce  it.  If  it  did  now  exist 
amongst  us  we  would  not  instantly  give  it  up.  This  I  be 
lieve  of  the  masses  North  and  South.  When  the  Southern  people 
tell  us  they  are  no  more  responsible  for  the  origin  of  slavery  than 
we,  I  acknowledge  the  fact.  When  it  is  said  that  the  institution 
exists,  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  get  rid  of  it  in  any  satis 
factory  way,  I  can  understand  and  appreciate  the  same.  I  surely 
will  not  blame  them  for  what  I  should  not  know  how  to  do  myself. 
If  all  earthly  powers  were  given  me,  I  should  not  know  what  to 
do  as  to  the  existing  institution." 


118  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Declaring  that  he  did  not  advocate  freeing  the  negroes, 
and  making  them  our  political  and  social  equals,  but  sug 
gesting  that  gradual  systems  of  emancipation  might  be 
adopted  by  the  States,  he  added,  "But  for  their  tardiness 
in  this,  I  will  not  undertake  to  judge  our  brethren  of  the 
South.  But  all  this  to  my  judgment  furnishes  no  more  excuse 
for  permitting  slavery  to  go  into  our  free  territory  than  it 
would  for  the  reviving  the  African  slave  trade  by  law." 

He  then  added: 

"  I  have  no  purpose  directly  or  indirectly  to  interfere  with  the 
institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I 
have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so. 
I  have  no  purpose  to  introduce  political  and  social  equality 
between  the  white  and  black  races.  But  I  hold  that  notwith 
standing  all  this  there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  the  negro 
is  not  entitled  to  all  the  natural  rights  enumerated  in  the  Declar 
ation  of  Independence,  the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  I  hold  that  he  is  as  much  entitled  to  these  as  the 
white  man.  I  agree  with  Judge  Douglas  he  is  not  my  equal  in 
many  respects  —  certainly  not  in  color,  perhaps  not  in  moral 
and  intellectual  endowment.  But  in  the  right  to  eat  the  bread, 
without  the  leave  of  anybody  else,  which  his  own  hand  earns,  he 
is  my  equal,  and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas,  and  the  equal  of 
every  living  man." 

Referring  to  the  quotation  from  his  Springfield  speech  of 
the  words,  "  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand," 
he  said: 

"Does  the  Judge  say  it  can  stand?  If  he  does,  then  there 
is  a  question  of  veracity,  not  between  him  and  me,  but  between 
the  Judge  and  an  authority  of  somewhat  higher  character.  I 
leave  it  to  you  to  say  whether,  in  the  history  of  our  Government; 
the  institution  of  slavery  has  not  only  failed  to  be  a  bond  of  union, 
but  on  the  contrary  been  an  apple  of  discord  and  an  element  of 
division  in  the  house.  If  so,  then  I  have  a  right  to  say  that  in 
regard  to  this  question  the  Union  is  a  house  divided  against  itself; 
and  when  the  Judge  reminds  me  that  I  have  often  said  to  him 
that  the  institution  of  slavery  has  existed  for  eighty  years  in  some 
States  and  yet  it  does  not  exist  in  some  others,  I  agree  to  that 
fact,  and  I  account  for  it  by  looking  at  the  position  in  which  our 
fathers  originally  placed  it  —  restricting  it  from  the  new  Terri 
tories  where  it  had  not  gone,  and  legislating  to  cut  off  its  source 
by  abrogation  of  the  slave  trade,  thus  putting  the  seal  of  legis- 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  119 

lation  against  its  spread,  the  public  mind  did  rest  in  the  belief 
that  it  was  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction.  Now,  I  believe 
if  we  could  arrest  its  spread  and  place  it  where  Washington  and 
Jefferson  and  Madison  placed  it,  it  would  be  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction,  and  the  public  mind  would  —  as  for  eighty 
years  past  —  believe  that  it  was  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinc 
tion. 

Referring  further  to  his  Springfield  speech,  he  declared 
that  he  had  no  thought  of  doing  anything  to  bring  about  a 
war  between  the  free  and  slave  States;  that  he  had  no  thought 
in  the  world  that  he  was  doing  anything  to  bring  about  social 
and  political  equality  of  the  black  and  white  races. 

Pursuing  this  line  of  argument,  he  insisted  that  the  first 
step  in  the  conspiracy,  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill,  followed  soon  by  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  —  the  latter 
fitting  perfectly  into  the  niche  left  by  the  former  —  "in  such 
a  case,  we  feel  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen  and 
Franklin,  Roger  and  James,  all  understood  one  another 
from  the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan  or 
draft  drawn  before  the  first  blow  was  struck." 

In  closing,  Douglas,  after  indignant  denial  of  the  charge 
of  conspiracy,  said : 

"  I  have  lived  twenty-five  years  in  Illinois;  I  have  served  you 
with  all  the  fidelity  and  ability  which  I  possess,  and  Mr.  Lincoln 
is  at  liberty  to  attack  my  public  action,  my  votes,  and  my  con 
duct,  but  when  he  dares  to  attack  my  moral  integrity  by  a  charge 
of  conspiracy  between  myself,  Chief  Justice  Taney,  and  the  Su 
preme  Court  and  two  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  I  will 
repel  it." 

At  Freeport,  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  opening  the  discussion,  at 
once  declared  his  readiness  to  answer  the  interrogatories 
propounded.  He  said: 

"  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  in  favor  of  the  uncondi 
tional  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law;  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever 
did,  stand  pledged  against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States 
into  the  Union;  I  do  not  stand  pledged  against  the  admission 
of  a  new  State  into  the  Union  with  such  a  Constitution  as  the 
people  of  that  State  may  see  fit  to  make;  I  do  not  stand  to-day 
pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia; 
I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the  slave  trade 
between  the  different  States;  I  am  impliedly,  if  not  expressly, 


120  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

pledged  to  a  belief  in  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  all  the  United  States  Territories." 

Waiving  the  form  of  the  interrogatory,  as  to  being 
pledged,  he  said: 

"  As  to  the  first  one  in  regard  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  I 
have  never  hesitated  to  say,  and  I  do  not  now  hesitate  to  say, 
that  I  think  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  the 
people  of  the  Southern  States  are  entitled  to  a  Congressional 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Having  said  that,  I  have  had  nothing  to 
say  in  regard  to  the  existing  Fugitive  Slave  Law  further  than  that 
I  think  it  should  have  been  framed  so  as  to  be  free  from  some  of 
the  objections  that  pertain  to  it  without  lessening  its  efficiency. 
In  regard  to  whether  I  am  pledged  to  the  admission  of  any  more 
slave  States  into  the  Union,  I  would  be  exceedingly  glad  to  know 
that  there  would  never  be  another  slave  State  admitted  into  the 
Union;  but  I  must  add  that  if  slavery  shall  be  kept  out  of  the 
Territories  during  the  Territorial  existence  of  any  one  given 
Territory,  and  then  the  people  shall,  having  a  fair  chance  and  a 
clear  field  when  they  come  to  adopt  the  Constitution,  do  such  an 
extraordinary  thing  as  to  adopt  a  slavery  Constitution  unin 
fluenced  by  the  actual  presence  of  the  institution  among  them, 
I  see  no  alternative,  if  we  own  the  country,  but  to  admit  them  into 
the  Union.  I  should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  see  slavery  abolished 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  I  believe  that  Congress  possesses 
Constitutional  power  to  abolish  it.  Yet,  as  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  I  should  not  be  in  favor  of  endeavoring  to  abolish  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  unless  it  would  be  upon  these  con 
ditions:  First,  that  the  abolition  should  be  gradual;  second,  that 
it  should  be  on  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  qualified  voters  in  the 
district;  third,  that  compensation  should  be  made  unwilling 
owners.  With  these  conditions,  I  confess  I  should  be  exceed 
ingly  glad  to  see  Congress  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  in  the  language  of  Henry  Clay, '  Sweep  from  our 
Capital  that  foul  blot  upon  our  nation. ' ' 

These  carefully  prepared  answers  will  never  cease  to 
be  of  profound  interest  to  the  student  of  human  affairs.  They 
indicate  unmistakably  the  conservative  tendency  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  his  position  at  the  time  as  to  the  legal  status 
of  the  institution  of  slavery.  But  "courage  mounteth 
with  occasion."  Five  years  later,  and  from  the  hand  that 
penned  the  answers  given  came  the  great  proclamation 
emancipating  a  race.  The  hour  had  struck  —  and  slavery 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  131 

perished.    The  compromises   upon   which  it   rested   were, 
in  the  mighty  upheaval,  but  as  the  stubble  before  the  flame. 

Recurring  to  the  Freeport  debates,  Mr.  Lincoln  pro 
pounded  to  his  opponent  four  interrogatories  as  follows: 

"  First,  if  the  people  of  Kansas  shall  by  means  entirely  un 
objectionable  in  all  other  respects  adopt  a  State  Constitution  and 
ask  admission  into  the  Union  under  it  before  they  have  the 
requisite  number  of  inhabitants  according  to  the  bill  —  some 
ninety-three  thousand  —  will  you  vote  to  admit  them?  Second, 
can  the  people  of  a  United  States  Territory  in  any  lawful  way, 
against  the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  sla 
very  from  its  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State  Consti 
tution?  Third,  if  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  shall 
decide  that  States  cannot  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits,  are 
you  in  favor  of  acquiescing  in,  adopting,  and  following  such 
decision  as  a  rule  of  political  action?  Fourth,  are  you  in  favor 
of  acquiring  additional  territory  in  disregard  of  how  such  acqui 
sition  may  affect  the  nation  on  the  slavery  question?" 

The  questions  propounded  reached  the  marrow  of  the 
controversy,  and  were  yet  to  have  a  much  wider  field  for 
discussion.  This  was  especially  true  of  the  second  of  the  series. 
Upon  this  widely  divergent  —  irreconcilable  —  views  were 
entertained  by  Northern  and  Southern  Democrats.  The 
evidence  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  respective  national 
platforms  upon  which  Douglas  and  Mr.  Breckenridge  were 
two  years  later  rival  candidates  of  a  divided  party.  The 
second  interrogatory  of  Mr.  Lincoln  clearly  emphasized  this 
conflict  of  opinion  as  it  existed  at  the  time  of  the  debates. 
It  is  but  just,  however,  to  Douglas  —  of  whom  little  that 
is  kindly  has  in  late  years  been  spoken  —  to  say  that 
there  was  nothing  in  the  question  to  cause  him  surprise  or 
embarrassment.  It  would  be  passing  strange  if  during  the 
protracted  debates  with  Senators  representing  extreme  and 
antagonistic  views,  a  matter  so  vital  as  the  interpretation 
of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act —  as  indicated  by  the  inter 
rogatory  —  had  never  been  under  discussion.  Conclusive 
evidence  upon  this  point  is  to  be  found  in  the  speech  de 
livered  by  Senator  Douglas  at  Bloomington,  July  16,  forty- 
two  days  before  the  Freeport  debate,  in  which  he  said: 


18«  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  it  is  impossible  under  our  institu 
tions  to  force  slavery  on  an  unwilling  people.  If  this  principle 
of  popular  sovereignty,  asserted  in  the  Nebraska  Bill,  be  fairly 
carried  out  by  letting  the  people  decide  the  question  for  them 
selves  by  a  fair  vote,  at  a  fair  election,  and  with  honest  returns, 
slavery  will  never  exist  one  day  or  one  hour  in  any  Territory 
against  the  unfriendly  legislation  of  an  unfriendly  people.  Hence 
if  the  people  of  a  Territory  want  slavery  they  will  encourage  it 
by  passing  affirmatory  laws,  and  the  necessary  police  regulations; 
if  they  do  not  want  it,  they  will  withhold  that  legislation,  and 
by  withholding  it  slavery  is  as  dead  as  if  it  were  prohibited  by  a 
Constitutional  prohibition.  They  could  pass  such  local  laws 
and  police  regulations  as  would  drive  slavery  out  in  one  day  or 
one  hour  if  they  were  opposed  to  it,  and  therefore,  so  far  as  the 
question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  is  concerned,  so  far  as  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty  is  concerned  in  its  practical 
operation,  it  matters  not  how  the  Dred  Scott  case  may  be  deci 
ded  with  reference  to  the  Territories.  My  own  opinion  on  that 
point  is  well  known.  It  is  shown  by  my  vote  and  speeches  in 
Congress." 

Recurring  again  to  the  Freeport  debate,  in  reply  to 
the  first  interrogatory,  Douglas  declared  that  in  reference 
to  Kansas  it  was  his  opinion  that  if  it  had  population  enough 
to  constitute  a  slave  State,  it  had  people  enough  for  a  free 
State;  that  he  would  not  make  Kansas  an  exceptional  case  to 
the  other  States  of  the  Union;  that  he  held  it  to  be  a  sound 
rule  of  universal  application  to  require  a  Territory  to  contain 
the  requisite  population  for  a  member  of  Congress  before 
its  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union;  that  it  having  been 
decided  that  Kansas  has  people  enough  for  a  slave  State, 
"I  hold  it  has  enough  for  a  free  State." 

As  to  the  third  interrogatory,  he  said  that  only  one  man 
in  the  United  States,  an  editor  of  a  paper  in  Washington, 
had  held  such  view,  and  that  he,  Douglas,  had  at  the 
time  denounced  it  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate;  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  cast  an  imputation  upon  the  Supreme  Court  by 
supposing  that  it  would  violate  the  Constitution;  that  it 
would  be  an  act  of  moral  treason  that  no  man  on  the 
bench  could  ever  descend  to.  To  the  fourth  —  which  he 
said  was  very  "ingeniously  and  cunningly  put" — he  an 
swered  that,  whenever  it  became  necessary  in  our  growth 


STEPHEN   A.  DOUGLAS  123 

and  progress  to  acquire  more  territory  he  was  in  favor  of  it 
without  reference  to  the  question  of  slavery,  and  when  we 
had  acquired  it,  he  would  leave  the  people  to  do  as  they 
pleased,  either  to  make  it  free,  or  slave  territory  as  they 
preferred. 

The  answer  to  the  second  interrogatory  —  of  which  much 
has  been  written  —  was  given  without  hesitation.  Language 
could  hardly  be  more  clear  or  effective.  He  said: 

"  To  the  next  question  propounded  to  me  I  answer  emphati 
cally,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  has  heard  me  answer  a  hundred  times,  that 
in  my  opinion  the  people  of  a  Territory  can  by  lawful  means 
exclude  slavery  from  their  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a 
State  Constitution.  It  matters  not  what  way  the  Supreme 
Court  may  hereafter  decide  as  to  the  abstract  question  whether 
slavery  may  or  may  not  go  into  a  Territory  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  the  people  have  the  lawful  means  to  introduce  it  or  exclude 
it,  as  they  please,  for  the  reason  that  slavery  cannot  exist  a  day, 
or  an  hour  anywhere,  unless  it  is  supported  by  local  police 
regulations.  These  police  regulations  can  only  be  established  by 
the  local  Legislatures,  and  if  the  people  are  opposed  to  slavery 
they  will  elect  representatives  to  that  body  who  will  by  un 
friendly  legislation  effectually  prevent  the  introduction  of  it  into 
their  midst.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  for  it,  their  Legislature 
will  favor  its  extension.  Hence,  no  matter  what  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  may  be  on  that  abstract  question,  still  the 
right  of  the  people  to  make  a  slave  Territory  or  a  free  Territory 
is  perfect  and  complete  under  the  Nebraska  Bill." 

The  trend  of  thought,  the  unmeasured  achievement  of 
activities  looking  to  human  amelioration,  during  the  fifty 
intervening  years,  must  be  taken  into  the  account  before 
uncharitable  judgment  upon  what  has  been  declared  the 
indifference  of  Douglas  to  the  question  of  abstract  right 
involved  in  the  memorable  discussion.  It  must  be  remem 
bered  that  the  world  has  moved  apace,  and  that  a  mighty 
gulf  separates  us  from  that  eventful  period,  in  which  prac 
tical  statesmen  were  compelled  to  deal  with  institutions 
as  then  existing.  And  not  to  be  forgotten  are  the  words 
of  the  great  interpreter  of  the  human  heart, 

"But  know  thou  this,  that  men  are  as  the  time  is." 

The  great  debates  between  Douglas  and  Lincoln  —  the 


124  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

like  of  which  we  shall  not  hear  again  —  had  ended  and 
passed  to  the  domain  of  history.  To  the  inquiry,  "  Which 
of  the  participants  was  the  victor?  "  there  can  be  no  absolute 
answer.  Judged  by  the  immediate  result,  the  former; 
by  consequence  more  remote  and  far-reaching,  the  latter. 
Within  three  years  from  the  first  meeting  at  Ottawa,  Mr. 
Lincoln  —  having  been  elected  and  inaugurated  President  — 
was  upon  the  threshold  of  mighty  events  which  are  now  the 
masterful  theme  of  history;  and  his  great  antagonist  in  the 
now  historic  debates  had  passed  from  earthly  scenes. 
It  has  been  said  that  Douglas  was  ambitious. 

"  If  it  were  so,  it  was  a  grievous  fault, 
And  grievously  hath  he  answered  it." 

We  may  well  believe  that,  with  like  honorable  ambition  to 
the  two  great  popular  leaders  of  different  periods  —  Clay 
and  Blaine  —  his  goal  was  the  Presidency. 

In  the  last  three  national  conventions  of  his  party  pre 
ceding  his  death,  he  was  presented  by  the  Illinois  delegation 
to  be  named  for  the  great  office.  The  last  of  these  —  the 
Charleston  convention  of  1860  —  is  now  historic.  It  assem 
bled  amid  intense  party  passion,  and  after  a  turbulent  session 
that  seemed  the  omen  of  its  approaching  doom,  adjourned  to 
a  later  day  to  Baltimore.  Senator  Douglas  there  received  the 
almost  solid  vote  of  the  Northern,  and  a  portion  of  that  of 
the  Border  States,  but  the  hostility  of  the  extreme  Southern 
leaders  to  his  candidacy  was  implacable  to  the  end.  What 
had  seemed  inevitable  from  the  beginning  at  length  occurred, 
and  the  great  historical  party  —  which  had  administered  the 
Government  with  brief  intermissions  from  the  inauguration 
of  Jefferson  —  was  hopelessly  rent  asunder.  This  startling 
event  —  and  what  it  might  portend  —  gave  pause  to  thought 
ful  men  of  all  parties.  It  was  not  a  mere  incident,  but  an 
epoch  in  history.  Mr.  Blame,  in  his  "  Twenty  Years  of  Con 
gress,"  says: 

"The  situation  was  the  cause  of  solicitude  and  even  grief 
with  thousands  to  whom  the  old  party  was  peculiarly  endeared. 
The  traditions  of  Jefferson,  of  Madison,  of  Jackson,  were  devoutly 
treasured;  and  the  splendid  achievements  of  th$  American 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  125 

Democracy  were  recounted  with  the  pride  which  attaches  to 
an  honorable  family  inheritance.  The  fact  was  recalled  that  the 
Republic  had  grown  to  its  imperial  dimensions  under  Democratic 
statesmanship.  It  was  remembered  that  Louisiana  had  been 
acquired  from  France,  Florida  from  Spain,  the  independent 
Republic  of  Texas  annexed,  and  California,  with  its  vast  depen 
dencies,  and  its  myriad  millions  of  treasure,  ceded  by  Mexico,  all 
under  Democratic  administrations,  and  in  spite  of  the  resistance 
of  their  opponents.  That  a  party  whose  history  was  inwoven 
with  the  glory  of  the  Republic  should  now  come  to  its  end  in  a 
quarrel  over  the  status  of  the  negro  in  a  country  where  his  labor 
was  not  wanted,  was  to  many  of  its  members  as  incomprehensible 
as  it  was  sorrowful  and  exasperating.  They  might  have  restored 
the  party  to  harmony,  but  at  the  very  height  of  the  factional 
contest,  the  representatives  of  both  sections  were  hurried  for 
ward  to  the  National  Convention  of  1860,  with  principle  subor 
dinated  to  passion,  with  judgment  displaced  by  a  desire  for 
revenge." 

The  withdrawal  from  the  Baltimore  Convention  of  a  large 
majority  of  the  Southern  delegates  and  a  small  following, 
led  by  Caleb  Gushing  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler  from  the 
North,  resulted  in  the  immediate  nomination  by  the  requisite 
two-thirds  vote  of  Senator  Douglas  as  the  Presidential  can 
didate.  The  platform  upon  the  question  of  slavery  was  in 
substance  that  contended  for  by  the  candidate  in  the  debates 
with  Lincoln.  The  Democratic  party  divided  — Breckenridge 
receiving  the  support  of  the  South  —  Douglas's  candidacy 
was  hopeless  from  the  beginning.  But  his  iron  will,  and 
courage,  that  knew  no  faltering,  never  appeared  to  better 
advantage  than  during  that  eventful  canvass.  Deserted  by 
former  political  associates,  he  visited  distant  States  and 
addressed  immense  audiences  in  defence  of  the  platform  upon 
which  he  had  been  nominated,  and  in  advocacy  of  his  awn 
election.  His  speeches  in  Southern  States  were  of  the  stormy 
incidents  of  a  struggle  that  has  scarcely  known  a  parallel. 
Interrogated  by  a  prominent  citizen  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  "If 
Lincoln  be  elected  President,  would  the  Southern  States  be 
justified  in  seceding  from  the  Union?"  Douglas  replied, 
"I  emphatically  answer,  No.  The  election  of  a  man  to  the 
Presidency  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  would  not  justify  an  attempt  to  dissolve  the  Union.'7 


126  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE   KNOWN 

Defeated  in  his  great  ambition,  broken  in  health,  the  sad 
witness  of  the  unmistakable  portents  of  the  coming  sectional 
strife  —  the  few  remaining  months  of  his  mortal  life  were 
enveloped  in  gloom.  Partisan  feeling  vanished  —  his  deep 
concern  was  now  only  for  his  country.  Standing  by  the  side 
of  his  successful  rival  —  whose  wondrous  career  was  only 
opening,  as  his  own  was  nearing  its  close  —  he  bowed  pro 
found  assent  to  the  imperishable  utterances  of  the  inaugural 
address:  "I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may 
have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection." 

Yet  later  —  immediately  upon  the  firing  of  the  fatal  shot 
at  Sumter  that  suddenly  summoned  millions  from  peaceful 
pursuits  to  arms  —  by  invitation  of  the  Illinois  Legislature 
Douglas  addressed  his  countrymen  for  the  last  time. 

Broken  with  the  storms  of  state,  the  fires  of  ambition 
forever  extinguished,  standing  upon  the  threshold  of  the 
grave,  his  soul  burdened  with  the  calamities  that  had  befallen 
his  country,  in  tones  of  deepest  pathos  he  declared : 

"  If  war  must  come  —  if  the  bayonet  must  be  used  to  maintain 
the  Constitution  —  I  can  say  before  God,  my  conscience  is  clear. 
I  have  struggled  long  for  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  trouble.  I 
deprecate  war,  but  if  it  must  come,  I  am  with  my  country,  and 
for  my  country,  in  every  contingency,  and  under  all  circum 
stances.  At  all  hazards  our  Government  must  be  maintained, 
and  the  shortest  pathway  to  peace  is  through  the  most  stupen 
dous  preparation  for  war." 

Who  that  heard  the  last  public  utterance  that  fell  from  his 
lips  can  forget  his  solemn  invocation  to  all  who  had  followed 
his  political  fortunes,  until  the  banner  had  fallen  from  his 
hand,  —  to  know  only  their  country  in  its  hour  of  peril? 

The  ordinary  limit  of  human  life  unreached;  his  intellectual 
strength  unabated;  his  loftiest  aspirations  unrealized;  at  the 
critical  moment  of  his  country's  sorest  need  —  he  passed  to 
the  grave.  What  reflections  and  regrets  may  have  been  his 
in  that  hour  of  awful  mystery,  we  may  not  know.  In  the 
words  of  another:  " What  blight  and  anguish  met  his  agonized 
eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell?  what  brilliant  broken  plans,  what 


STEPHEN   A.  DOUGLAS 


SAMUEL  F.  B.  MORSE 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS  127 

bitter  rending  of  sweet  household  ties,  what  sundering  of 
strong  manhood's  friendships." 

In  the  light  of  what  has  been  disclosed,  may  we  not  believe 
that  with  his  days  prolonged,  he  would  during  the  perilous 
years  have  been  the  safe  counsellor  —  the  rock  —  of  the  great 
President,  in  preserving  the  nation's  life,  and  later  in  "binding 
up  the  nation's  wounds." 

Worthy  of  honored  and  enduring  place  in  history,  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  —  statesman  and  patriot  —  lies  buried  within  the 
great  city  whose  stupendous  development  is  so  largely  the 
result  of  his  own  wise  forecast  and  endeavor,  —  by  the  ma 
jestic  lake  whose  waves  break  near  the  base  of  his  stately 
monument  and  chant  his  eternal  requiem. 


VIII 
THE    FIRST   POLITICAL   TELEGRAM 

SENATOR  SILAS  WRIGHT  NOMINATED  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT  — 
WORD  OF  HIS  NOMINATION  SENT  HIM  BY  THE  MORSE  TELE 
GRAPH —  MORSE'S  FIRST  CONCEPTION  OF  AN  ELECTRO-MAG 
NETIC  TELEGRAPH OBSTACLES  TO  THE  CARRYING  OUT  OF 

HIS  INVENTION  —  A  BILL  APPROPRIATING  $30,000  TO  TEST 
THE  VALUE  OF  HIS  TELEGRAPH EARLIER  FORMS  OF  TELE 
GRAPHIC  INTERCOURSE A  EULOGY  ON  THE  INVENTOR  BY 

MR.  GARFIELD ANOTHER,  BY  MR.  COX  —  THE  FIRST  MES 
SAGE  THAT  EVER  PASSED  OVER  THE  WIRE  —  DR.  PRIMERS 
PRAISE  OF  MORSE  AFTER  HIS  DEATH. 

BY  all  odds,  the  most  venerable  in  appearance  of  the 
Representatives  in  the  Forty-sixth  Congress,  was  Hen- 
drick  B.  Wright  of  Pennsylvania.    After  a  retirement  of 
a  third  of  a  century,  he  had  been  returned  to  the  seat  he  had 
honored  while  many  of  his  present  associates  were  in  the 
cradle.    Of  massive  build,  stately  bearing,  lofty  courtesy; 
neatly  apparelled  in  blue  broadcloth,  with  brass  buttons 
appropriately  hi  evidence,  he  appeared  indeed  to  belong  to 
a  past  generation  of  statesmen. 

"  And  thus  he  bore  without  abuse 
The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman." 

In  one  of  the  many  conversations  I  held  with  him,  he  told 
me  that  he  was  the  president  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  which  met  in  Baltimore  in  1844.  As  will  be 
remembered,  a  majority  of  the  delegates  to  that  convention 
were  favorable  to  the  renomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  but 
his  recently  published  letter  opposing  the  annexation  of 
Texas  had  rendered  him  extremely  obnoxious  to  a  powerful 
minority  of  his  party.  After  a  protracted  struggle,  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  under  the  operation  of  the  "two- thirds  rule,"  was 
defeated,  and  Mr.  Polk  nominated.  The  convention,  anxious 
to  placate  the  friends  of  the  defeated  candidate,  then  tendered 

128 


THE  FIRST  POLITICAL  TELEGRAM  129 

the  nomination  for  Vice-President  to  Senator  Silas  Wright, 
the  close  friend  of  Mr.  Van  Buren. 

At  the  time  the  convention  was  in  session,  Samuel  F.  B. 
Morse  was  conducting  in  a  room  in  the  Capitol  the  electrical 
experiments  which  have  since  "  given  his  name  to  the  ages." 
Under  an  appropriation  by  Congress,  a  telegraph  line  had 
been  recently  constructed  from  Washington  to  Baltimore. 

Immediately  upon  the  nomination  of  Senator  Wright, 
as  mentioned,  the  president  of  the  convention  sent  him  by 
the  Morse  telegraph  a  brief  message,  the  first  of  a  political 
character  that  ever  passed  over  the  wire,  advising  him 
of  his  nomination,  and  requesting  his  acceptance.  Two 
hours  later  he  read  to  the  convention  a  message  from 
Senator  Wright,  then  in  Washington,  peremptorily  declining 
the  nomination. 

Upon  the  reading  of  this  message  to  the  convention,  it 
was  openly  declared  to  be  a  hoax,  not  one  member  in  twenty 
believing  that  a  message  could  possibly  have  been  received. 
The  convention  adjourned  till  the  next  day,  first  instructing 
its  president  to  communicate  with  Senator  Wright  by  letter. 
A  special  messenger,  by  hard  riding  and  frequent  change 
of  horse,  bore  the  letter  of  the  convention  to  Wright  in  Wash 
ington,  and  returned  with  his  reply  by  the  time  the  convention 
had  reassembled.  As  will  be  remembered,  Wright  persisting 
in  his  declination,  George  M.  Dallas  was  nominated  and  duly 
elected. 

Later,  in  conversation  with  the  Hon.  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  of  Georgia,  he  told  me  that  he  was  in  the  room  of 
the  Capitol  set  apart  for  the  experiments  which  Mr. 
Morse  wished  to  make,  and  distinctly  remembered  the 
fact  of  the  transmission  of  the  message  to  and  from  Senator 
Wright,  as  stated. 

The  incident  mentioned  recalls  something  of  the  obsta 
cles  encountered  by  Morse  in  the  marvellous  work  with 
which  his  name  is  inseparably  associated.  He  first  conceived 
the  idea  of  an  electro-magnetic  telegraph  on  shipboard  on 
a  homeward-bound  voyage  from  Europe  in  1832.  Before 
landing  from  his  long  voyage,  his  plans  for  a  series  of  experi- 


180  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

ments  had  been  clearly  thought  out.  Having  constructed 
his  first  recording  apparatus,  his  caveat  for  a  patent  was  filed 
five  years  later;  and  in  1838,  he  applied  to  Congress  for  an 
appropriation  to  enable  him  to  construct  an  experimental 
line  from  Washington  to  Baltimore  in  order  to  demonstrate 
the  practicability  of  his  invention.  His  proposal  was  at 
first  treated  with  ridicule  —  even  with  contempt;  and  for 
more  than  three  years  no  favorable  action  was  taken  by 
Congress.  With  abiding  faith,  however,  in  the  merits  of 
his  invention,  his  zeal  knew  no  abatement  during  years  of 
poverty  and  discouragement.  At  length  hi  the  Twenty- 
seventh  Congress,  Representative  Kennedy  of  Maryland  — 
at  a  later  day  Secretary  of  the  Navy  —  introduced  a  bill 
appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars  "to  test  the  value  of 
Morse's  Electro-Magnetic  Telegraph/'  to  be  expended  under 
the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

By  the  untiring  efforts  of  Mr.  Kennedy  and  other 
Representatives,  the  bill  was  finally  brought  before  the 
House  for  consideration  near  the  close  of  the  session. 
In  the  light  of  events,  the  discussion  that  immediately  pre 
ceded  the  vote  is  of  interest,  and  in  no  small  degree  amusing, 
to  this  generation.  On  February  twenty-first,  1843,  Mr. 
Johnson  of  Tennessee  wished  to  say  a  word  upon  the  bill. 
As  the  present  Congress  had  done  much  to  encourage  science, 
he  did  not  wish  to  see  the  science  of  Mesmerism  neglected 
and  overlooked.  He  therefore  proposed  that  one-half  of 
the  appropriation  be  given  to  Mr.  Fisk  to  enable  him  to  carry 
on  experiments  as  well  as  Professor  Morse.  Mr.  Houston 
thought  that  Millerism  should  also  be  included  in  the  bene 
fits  of  the  appropriation.  Mr.  Stanley  said  he  should  have 
no  objection  to  the  appropriation  for  Mesmeric  experiments 
provided  the  gentleman  from  Tennessee  was  the  subject. 
Mr.  Johnson  said  he  should  have  no  objection  provided  Mr. 
Stanley  was  the  operator.  Several  gentlemen  now  called 
for  the  reading  of  the  amendment,  and  it  was  read  by  the 
clerk  as  follows:  ''Provided  that  one-half  of  the  said  sum 
shall  be  appropriated  for  trying  Mesmeric  experiments  under 
the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury." 


THE  FIRST  POLITICAL  TELEGRAM  131 

Mr.  Mason  arose  to  a  question  of  order.  He  maintained 
that  the  amendment  was  not  bona  fide,  and  that  such  amend 
ments  were  calculated  to  injure  the  character  of  the  House. 
He  appealed  to  the  Chair,  the  House  being  then  in  committee 
of  the  whole,  to  rule  the  amendment  out  of  order. 

The  Chairman  said  that  it  was  not  for  him  to  judge  of  the 
motives  of  members  who  offered  amendments,  and  that  he 
could  not  therefore  undertake  to  pronounce  the  amendment 
not  bona  fide.  Objection  might  be  raised  to  it  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  not  sufficiently  analagous  in  character  to  the  bill 
under  consideration;  but,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Chair,  it 
would  require  a  scientific  analysis  to  determine  how  far  the 
magnetism  of  mesmerism  was  analogous  to  that  employed  in 
telegraphs.  He  therefore  ruled  the  amendment  in  order. 

The  amendment  was  rejected.  The  bill  was  subsequently 
reported  favorably  to  the  House,  and  two  days  later  passed 
by  the  close  vote  of  eighty-nine  to  eighty-three. 

The  bill  then  went  to  the  Senate,  and  was  placed  upon 
the  calendar.  A  large  number  of  bills  were  ahead  of  it,  and 
Mr.  Morse  was  assured  by  a  kindly  Senator  that  there  was 
no  possible  chance  for  its  consideration.  All  hope  seemed  to 
forsake  the  great  inventor,  as,  from  his  seat  in  the  gallery, 
he  was  a  gloomy  witness  of  the  waning  hours  of  the  session. 
Unable  longer  to  endure  the  strain,  he  sought  his  humble 
dwelling  an  hour  before  final  adjournment.  On  arising  the 
next  morning,  a  little  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  faithful  friend, 
ran  up  to  him  with  a  message  from  her  father,  to  the  effect 
that  in  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  the  midnight  hour,  and 
just  before  the  close  of  the  session,  the  Senate  had  passed 
his  bill,  which  immediately  received  the  signature  of  the 
President. 

With  the  sum  thus  appropriated  at  his  command,  Morse 
now  earnestly  resumed  the  experiments,  which  a  few  months 
later  resulted  so  successfully.  Referring  to  the  homeward 
voyage  from  Europe,  in  1832,  his  biographer  says: 

"  One  day  Dr.  Charles  S.  Jackson  of  Boston,  a  fellow  passen 
ger,  described  an  experiment  recently  made  in  Paris  by  means 
of  which  electricity  had  been  instantaneously  transmitted 


132  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

through  a  great  length  of  wire;  to  which  Morse  replied,  'If 
that  be  so,  I  see  no  reason  why  messages  may  not  instanta 
neously  be  transmitted  by  electricity.'  >! 

The  key-note  was  struck,  and  before  his  ship  reached 
New  York  the  invention  of  the  telegraph  was  virtually  made, 
and  even  the  essential  features  of  the  electro-magnetic  trans 
mitting  and  recording  apparatus  were  sketched  on  paper. 
Of  necessity,  in  reaching  this  result,  Morse  made  use  of  the 
ideas  and  discoveries  of  many  other  minds.  As  stated  by 
his  biographer: 

"  Various  forms  of  telegraphic  intercourse  had  been  devised 
before;  electro-magnetism  had  been  studied  by  savants  for 
many  years;  Franklin  even  had  experimented  with  the  trans 
mission  of  electricity  through  great  lengths  of  wire.  It  was 
reserved  for  Morse  to  combine  the  results  of  many  fragmentary 
and  unsuccessful  attempts,  and  put  them,  after  many  years  of 
trial,  to  a  practical  use;  and  though  his  claims  to  the  invention 
have  been  many  times  attacked  in  the  press  and  in  the  courts, 
they  have  been  triumphantly  vindicated  alike  by  the  law  and  the 
verdict  of  the  people,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  Chief 
Justice  of  the  United  States  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  one  of  the  Morse  cases,  said :  '  It  can  make 
no  difference  whether  the  inventor  derived  his  information  from 
books  or  from  conversation  with  men  skilled  in  the  science; 
and  the  fact  that  Morse  sought  and  obtained  the  necessary  in 
formation  and  counsel  from  the  best  sources  and  acted  upon  it, 
neither  impairs  his  right  as  an  inventor,  nor  detracts  from  his 
merits/' 

It  will  be  remembered  that  soon  after  his  first  successful 
experiment,  Morse  was  harassed  by  protracted  litigation,  and 
that  many  attempts  were  made  to  deprive  him  of  the  just 
rewards  of  his  great  invention.  True,  he  had  been  preceded 
along  the  same  lines  by  great  discoveries.  This  fact  no  man 
recognized  more  unreservedly  than  himself.  He  was  the 
inventor,  his  work,  that  of  gathering  up  and  applying  the 
marvellous  discoveries  of  others  to  the  practical  purposes  of 
human  life.  As  stated  by  Mr.  Garfield : 

"His  to  interpret  to  the  world  that  subtle  and  mysterious 
element  with  which  the  thinkers  of  the  human  race  had  so  long 
been  occupied.  As  Franklin  had  exhibited  the  relation  between 
lightning  and  the  electric  fluid,  so  Oersted  exhibited  the  re- 


THE  FIRST  POLITICAL  TELEGRAM  133 

lation  between  magnetism  and  electricity.  From  1820  to  1825, 
his  discovery  was  further  developed  by  Davy  and  Sturgeon  of 
England,  and  Arago  and  Ampere  of  France.  The  electro-magnetic 
telegraph  is  the  embodiment,  I  might  say  the  incarnation,  of 
many  centuries  of  thought,  of  many  generations  of  effort  to 
elicit  from  Nature  one  of  her  deepest  mysteries.  No  one  man, 
no  one  century,  could  have  achieved  it.  It  is  the  child  of  the 
human  race,  the  heir  of  all  ages.  How  wonderful  are  the  steps 
that  led  to  its  creation !  The  very  name  of  this  telegraphic  in 
strument  bears  record  of  its  history  —  Electric,  Magnetic. 

"  The  first,  named  from  the  bit  of  yellow  amber  whose  qual 
ities  of  attraction  and  repulsion  were  discovered  by  a  Grecian 
philosopher  twenty-four  centuries  ago,  and  the  second,  from 
Magnesia,  the  village  of  Asia  Minor  where  first  was  found  the 
lodestone,  whose  touch  turned  the  needle  forever  toward  the 
north.  These  were  the  earliest  forms  in  which  that  subtle, 
all-pervading  force  revealed  itself  to  men.  In  the  childhood  of 
the  race  men  stood  dumb  in  the  presence  of  its  more  terrible 
manifestations.  When  it  gleamed  in  the  purple  aurora,  or  shot 
dusky-red  from  the  clouds,  it  was  the  eye-flash  of  an  angry 
God  before  whom  mortals  quailed  in  helpless  fear." 

More  than  three  centuries  ago,  Shakspeare  put  into  the 
mouth  of  one  of  his  creations  the  words, 

"  I  '11  put  a  girdle  round  about  the  earth 
In  forty  minutes." 

The  words  spoken  in  jest  were  in  the  nature  of  prophecy. 
After  the  passing  of  many  generations,  in  a  country  unknown 
to  the  great  bard,  Morse,  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Cox,  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  of  his  eulogists  — 

"Gave  to  the  universal  people  the  means  of  speedy  and 
accurate  intelligence,  and  so  stormed  at  once  the  castles  of  the 
terrible  Giant  Doubt  and  Giant  Despair.  He  has  saved  time, 
shortened  the  hours  of  toil,  accumulated  and  intensified  thought 
by  the  rapidity  and  terseness  of  electric  messages.  He  has  cele 
brated  treaties.  Go  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth;  go 
beneath  the  deep  sea;  to  the  land  where  snows  are  eternal,  or 
to  the  tropical  realms  where  the  orange  blooms  in  the  air  of 
mid-winter,  and  you  will  find  this  clicking,  persistent,  sleepless 
instrument  ready  to  give  its  tireless  wing  to  your  purpose." 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  serve  in  the  House  of  Represent 
atives  with  Mr.  Stephens  of  Georgia,  and  Mr.  Wood  of  New 
York,  both  of  whom  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  before 


134  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

had  given  their  votes  in  favor  of  the  appropriation  that  made 
it  possible  for  Morse  to  prosecute  experiments  fraught  with 
such  stupendous  blessing  to  our  race.  The  member  who 
reported  back  the  bill  from  the  Committee  on  Commerce, 
with  favorable  recommendations,  and  then  supported  it 
by  an  eloquent  speech  upon  the  floor  of  the  House,  was 
Robert  C.  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts.  No  public  man  I 
have  ever  known  impressed  me  more  favorably  than  did  Mr. 
Winthrop.  He  had  been  the  close  friend  of  Everett, 
Choate,  Webster,  and  Clay.  He  was  the  last  survivor  of 
as  brilliant  a  coterie  of  party  leaders  and  statesmen  as  our 
country  has  ever  known.  On  a  visit  he  made  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  of  which  he  had  many  years  before  been 
the  Speaker,  business  was  at  once  suspended,  and  the  mem 
bers  from  all  parts  of  the  Great  Hall  gathered  about  him.  In 
a  letter  to  the  Morse  Memorial  meeting  in  Boston,  Mr.  Win 
throp  stated  that  he  was  present  in  the  Capitol  while  the 
first  formal  messages  were  passing  along  the  magic  cords 
between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  He  referred  to  the 
declination  read  by  Senator  Wright  in  his  presence,  of  the 
nomination  to  the  Vice-Presidency  tendered  him,  and  added: 

"  All  this  gave  us  the  most  vivid  impression,  not  only  that  a 
new  kind  of  wire-pulling  had  entered  into  politics,  but  that  a 
mysterious  and  marvellous  power  of  the  air  had  at  length  been 
subdued  and  trained  to  the  service  of  mankind." 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  in  this  connection,  to  note  that 
the  little  girl,  Miss  Ellsworth,  who  brought  to  Mr.  Morse  the 
joyful  tidings  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  on  that  early  May 
morning  in  1843,  was  rewarded  by  being  requested  by  the 
great  inventor  to  write  the  first  message  that  ever  passed  over 
the  wire.  When  she  selected, 

"  What  hath  God  wrought, " 

words  to  find  utterance  by  all  tongues  —  she  builded  better 
than  she  knew,  for  in  the  words  of  Speaker  Blaine: 

"The  little  thread  of  wire  placed  as  a  timid  experiment  be 
tween  the  national  capital  and  a  neighboring  city  grew,  and 
lengthened,  and  multiplied  with  almost  the  rapidity  of  the  electric 
current  that  darted  along  its  iron  nerves,  until,  within  his  own 


THE  FIRST  POLITICAL  TELEGRAM  135 

lifetime,  continent  was  bound  to  continent,  hemisphere  answered 
through  ocean's  depths  to  hemisphere,  and  an  encircled  globe 
flashed  forth  his  eulogy  in  the  unmatched  eloquence  of  a  grand 
achievement." 

Words  of  praise,  spoken  by  Dr.  Prime,  of  the  great  inven 
tor  just  after  he  had  passed  from  the  world,  to  which  he  left, 
such  a  heritage,  can  never  lose  their  interest: 

"  Morse  in  his  coffin  is  a  recollection  never  to  fade.  He  lay 
like  an  ancient  prophet  or  sage  such  as  the  old  masters  painted 
for  Abraham,  or  Isaiah.  His  finely  chiselled  features,  classical 
in  their  mould  and  majestic  in  repose,  and  heavy  flowing  beard; 
the  death  calm  upon  the  brow  that  for  eighty  years  had  con 
cealed  a  teeming  brain,  and  that  placid  beauty  that  lingers  upon 
the  face  of  the  righteous  dead,  as  if  the  freed  spirit  had  left  a 
smile  upon  its  forsaken  home  —  these  are  the  memories  that 
remain  of  the  most  illustrious  and  honored  private  citizen  that 
the  New  World  has  yet  given  to  mankind. " 


IX 
ALONG   THE   BYPATHS   OF   HISTORY 

THE  WIDOW  OF  GEN.  GAINES  CLAIMS  PROPERTY  AT  NEW  ORLEANS 
WORTH  $30,000,000  —  HER  SUCCESS  AFTER  MUCH  LITIGATION 

THE  WIDOW  OF  JOHN  H.  EATON,  SECRETARY  OF  WAR  —  A 

CLOUD  ON  HER  REPUTATION  —  HER  HUSBAND  A  FRIEND  OF 
GEN.  JACKSON  —  A  DUEL  BETWEEN  RANDOLPH  AND  CLAY  — 
HOSTILITY  OF  THE  LEADERS  OF  WASHINGTON  SOCIETY  TO 
MRS.  EATON  —  SECRETARY  EATON  DISLIKED  BY  HIS  COL 
LEAGUES —  CONSEQUENT  DISRUPTION  OF  JACKSON'S  CABINET 
—  MRS.  EATON'S  POVERTY  IN  HER  OLD  AGE. 

NEARLY  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  as  the  guest  in  a  Wash 
ington  home,  I  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  Mrs. 
Gaines,  the  widow  of  General  Edmund  P.  Gaines,  a  dis 
tinguished  officer  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  Mrs.  Eaton,  the 
widow  of  the  Hon.  John  H.  Eaton  of  Tennessee,  for  a  number 
of  years  a  Senator  from  that  State,  and  later  Secretary  of 
War  during  the  administration  of  President  Jackson.    Their 
names  suggesting  interesting  events  in  our  history,  I  gladly 
availed  myself  of  the  invitation  to  meet  them. 

I  found  Mrs.  Gaines  an  old  lady  of  small  stature,  with 
a  profusion  of  curls,  and  gifted  with  rare  powers  of  conver 
sation.  She  spoke  freely  of  her  great  lawsuits,  one  of  which 
was  then  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
As  I  listened,  I  thought  of  the  wonderful  career  of  the  little 
woman  before  me.  Few  names,  a  half-century  ago,  were 
more  familiar  to  the  reading  public  than  that  of  Myra  Clark 
Gaines.  She  was  born  in  New  Orleans  in  the  early  days  of 
the  century;  was  the  daughter  of  Daniel  Clark,  who  died  in 
1813,  the  owner  of  a  large  portion  of  the  land  upon  which  the 
city  of  New  Orleans  was  afterwards  built.  She  was  his  only 
heir,  and  soon  after  attaining  her  majority,  instituted  a  suit, 
or  series  of  suits,  for  the  recovery  of  her  property.  After 
years  of  litigation,  the  seriously  controverted  fact  of  her  being 
the  lawful  heir  of  Daniel  Clark  was  established,  and  the  con- 

136 


ALONG  THE  BYPATHS  OF  HISTORY  137 

test,  which  was  to  wear  out  two  generations  of  lawyers,  began 
in  dead  earnest.  The  value  of  the  property  involved  in  the 
litigation  then  exceeded  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  At  the 
time  I  saw  her,  she  had  just  arrived  from  her  home  in  New 
Orleans  to  be  present  at  the  argument  of  one  of  her  suits 
in  the  Supreme  Court.  She  had  already  received  nearly  six 
millions  of  dollars  by  successful  litigation,  and  she  assured 
me  that  she  intended  to  live  one  hundred  years  longer,  if 
necessary,  to  obtain  her  rights,  and  that  she  expected  to 
recover  every  dollar  to  which  she  was  rightfully  entitled. 
The  air  of  confidence  with  which  she  spoke,  and  the  pluck 
manifested  in  her  every  word  and  motion,  convinced  me  at 
once  that  the  only  possible  question  as  to  her  ultimate  success 
was  that  of  time.  And  so  indeed  it  proved,  for, 

"  When  like  a  clock  worn  out  with  eating  time, 

The  wheels  of  weary  life  at  last  stood  still," 
numerous  suits,  in  which  she  had  been  successful  in  the 
lower  courts,  were  still  pending  in  the  higher. 

She  told  me  with  apparent  satisfaction,  during  the  inter 
view,  that  she  could  name  over  fifty  lawyers  who  had  been 
against  her  since  the  beginning  of  her  contest,  all  of  whom 
were  now  in  their  graves.  Her  litigation  was  the  one  absorb 
ing  thought  of  her  life,  her  one  topic  of  conversation. 

General  Gaines  had  died  many  years  before,  and  her 
legal  battles,  —  extending  through  several  decades  and 
against  a  host  of  adversaries, —  she  had,  with  courage  unfal 
tering  and  patience  that  knew  no  shadow  of  weariness,  prose 
cuted  single-handed  and  alone. 

In  view  of  the  enormous  sums  involved,  the  length  of 
time  consumed  in  the  litigation,  the  number  and  ability  of 
counsel  engaged,  and  the  antagonisms  engendered,  the  records 
of  our  American  courts  will  be  searched  in  vain  for  a  parallel 
to  the  once  famous  suit  of  Myra  Clark  Gaines  against  the  city 
of  New  Orleans. 

At  the  close  of  this  interview,  I  was  soon  in  conversation 
with  the  older  of  the  two  ladies.  Mrs.  Eaton  was  then  near 
the  close  of  an  eventful  life,  one  indeed  without  an  approxi 
mate  parallel  in  our  history.  Four  score  years  ago,  there 


138  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

were  few  persons  in  the  village  of  Washington  to  whom 
" Peggy  O'Neal"  was  a  stranger.  Her  father  was  the  pro 
prietor  of  a  well-known,  old-style  tavern  on  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  which,  during  the  sessions  of  Congress,  included 
among  its  guests  many  of  the  leading  statesmen  of  that  day. 
Of  this  number  were  Benton,  Randolph,  Eaton,  Grundy,  and 
others  equally  well  known.  The  daughter,  a  girl  of  rare 
beauty,  on  account  of  her  vivacity  and  grace  soon  became 
a  great  favorite  with  all.  She  was  without  question  one  of 
the  belles  of  Washington. 

It  was  difficult  for  me  to  realize  that  the  care-worn  face 
before  me  was  that  of  the  charming  Peggy  O'Neal  of  early 
Washington  days.  Distress,  poverty,  slander  possibly,  had 
measurably  wrought  the  sad  change,  but  after  all, 

"The  surest  poison  is  Time." 

Traces  of  her  former  self  still  lingered,  however,  and  her 
erect  form  and  dignified  mien  would  have  challenged  respect 
in  any  assembly. 

While  yet  in  her  teens,  she  had  married  a  purser  in  the 
Navy,  who  soon  after  died  by  his  own  hand,  while  on  a  cruise 
to  the  Mediterranean.  A  year  or  two  after  his  death,  with 
reputation  somewhat  clouded,  she  married  the  Honorable 
John  H.  Eaton,  then  a  Senator  from  Tennessee.  He  was 
many  years  her  senior,  was  one  of  the  leading  statesmen  of 
the  day,  and  had  rendered  brilliant  service  in  the  campaign 
which  terminated  so  triumphantly  at  New  Orleans.  He  was 
the  devoted  personal  and  political  friend  of  General  Jack 
son,  his  earliest  biographer,  and  later  his  earnest  advocate 
for  the  Presidency.  Indeed,  the  movement  having  in  view 
the  election  of  "Old  Hickory"  was  inaugurated  by  Major 
Eaton  assisted  by  Amos  Kendall  and  Francis  P.  Blair. 

This  was  in  1824,  before  the  days  of  national  conventions. 
Eaton  visited  several  of  the  States  in  the  interest  of  his  old 
commander,  and  secured  the  hearty  cooperation  of  many  of 
the  most  influential  men.  It  was  in  large  degree  through 
his  personal  efforts  that  the  Legislatures  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Tennessee  proposed  the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson  for  the 
great  office. 


ALONG  THE  BYPATHS  OF  HISTORY  139 

The  Presidential  contest  of  that  year  marked  an  epoch 
in  our  political  history.  It  was  at  the  close  of  the  Monroe 
administration,  "the  era  of  good  feeling."  The  struggle 
for  supremacy  which  immediately  followed  was  the  precursor 
of  an  era  of  political  strife  which  left  its  deep  and  lasting 
impress  upon  the  country.  Of  the  four  candidates  in  the 
field,  two  were  members  of  the  outgoing  Cabinet  of  President 
Monroe:  John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Wil 
liam  H.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  remaining 
candidates  were  Henry  Clay,  the  eloquent  and  accomplished 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Andrew  Jack 
son  "the  hero  of  New  Orleans."  The  candidates  were  all 
of  the  same  party,  that  founded  by  Jefferson;  the  sun  of  the 
once  powerful  Federalists  had  set,  and  the  Whig  party  was 
yet  in  the  future. 

No  one  of  the  candidates  receiving  a  majority  of  the 
electoral  votes,  the  election  devolved  upon  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Mr.  Clay  being  the  lowest  upon  the  list, 
the  choice  by  constitutional  requirement  was  to  be  made 
from  his  three  competitors.  The  influence  of  the  Kentucky 
statesman  was  thrown  to  Mr.  Adams,  who  was  duly  elected, 
receiving  the  votes  of  a  bare  majority  of  the  States.  The 
determining  vote  was  given  by  the  sole  representative  from 
Illinois,  the  able  and  brilliant  Daniel  P.  Cook,  a  friend  of  Mr. 
Clay.  The  sad  sequel  was  the  defeat  of  Cook  at  the  next 
Congressional  election,  his  immediate  retirement  from  public 
life,  and  early  and  lamented  death. 

Not  less  sad  was  the  effect  of  the  vote  just  given  upon  the 
political  fortunes  of  Henry  Clay.  His  high  character  and 
distinguished  public  services  were  scant  protection  against 
the  clamor  that  immediately  followed  his  acceptance  of  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  tendered  him  by  President  Adams. 
" Bargain  and  Corruption"  was  the  terrible  slogan  of  his 
enemies  in  his  later  struggles  for  the  Presidency  and  its  echo 
scarcely  died  out  with  that  generation. 

In  this  connection,  the  bitter  words  spoken  in  the  Senate 
by  John  Randolph  will  be  recalled:  "The  coalition  between 
the  Puritan  and  the  blackleg."  The  duel  which  followed, 


140  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

now  historic,  stands  alone  in  the  fierce  conflicts  of  men. 
Whatever  the  faults  of  Randolph,  let  it  be  remembered  to 
his  eternal  honor,  that  after  receiving  at  short  range  the  fire 
of  Mr.  Clay,  he  promptly  discharged  his  own  pistol  in  the  air. 
Even  after  the  lapse  of  eighty  years  how  pleasing  these  words: 
"At  which  Mr.  Clay,  throwing  down  his  own  pistol,  advanced 
with  extended  hand  to  Mr.  Randolph,  who  taking  his 
hand  quietly  remarked,  'You  owe  me  a  coat,  Mr.  Clay/  to 
which  the  latter  exclaimed, '  Thank  God  the  obligation  is  no 
greater!7" 

Immediately  upon  the  defeat  of  Jackson,  his  friends  began 
the  agitation  which  resulted  in  his  overwhelming  triumph 
over  Adams,  in  1828.  Chief  among  his  supporters  in  this, 
as  in  his  former  contest,  was  Major  Eaton.  The  untiring 
devotion  of  Jackson  to  his  friends  is  well  known.  It  rarely 
found  more  striking  illustration  than  in  the  selection  of  Eaton 
as  Secretary  of  War,  and  in  the  zeal  with  which  he  sustained 
him  through  good  and  evil  report  alike,  during  later  years. 

When  it  became  known  that  Senator  Eaton  was  to  hold 
a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  of  the  new  administration,  the  fashion 
able  circles  of  the  capital  were  deeply  agitated,  and  protests 
earnest  and  vehement  assailed  the  ears  of  the  devoted  Presi 
dent.  The  objections  urged  were  not  against  Major  Eaton, 
but  against  his  beautiful  and  accomplished  wife.  Rumors  of 
an  exceedingly  uncomplimentary  character,  that  had  measur 
ably  died  out  with  time,  were  suddenly  revived  against  Mrs. 
Eaton,  and  gathered  force  and  volume  with  each  passing 
day.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  hostility  was,  in 
the  main,  from  her  own  sex.  To  all  remonstrances  and 
appeals,  however,  President  Jackson  turned  a  deaf  ear.  The 
kindness  shown  by  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Eaton  to  the  wife  of 
the  President  during  a  former  residence,  and  while  he  was  a 
Senator,  in  Washington,  had  never  been  forgotten.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  during  the  late  Presidential  contest  not 
only  had  Jackson  himself  been  the  object  of  merciless  attack, 
but  even  his  invalid  wife  did  not  escape.  Divorced  from  her 
first  husband  because  of  his  cruel  treatment,  she  had  mar 
ried  Jackson,  when  he  was  a  young  lawyer  in  Nashville, 


ALONG  THE  BYPATHS  OF  HISTORY  141 

many  years  before.  As  the  result  of  the  aspersions  cast  upon 
her,  the  once  famous  duel  was  evolved  in  which  Charles 
Dickinson  fell  by  the  hand  of  Jackson  in  1806. 

After  his  election,  but  before  his  inauguration,  Mrs.  Jack 
son  died,  the  victim  of  calumny  as  her  husband  always  be 
lieved.  A  few  days  after  he  had  turned  away  from  that  new- 
made  grave,  he  was  in  the  turmoil  of  politics  at  the  national 
capital.  With  the  past  fresh  hi  his  memory,  it  is  not  strange 
that  he  espoused  the  cause  of  his  faithful  friend,  and  the 
daughter  of  the  woman  who  had  befriended  one  dearer  to 
him  than  his  own  life.  Thoroughly  convinced  of  the  inno 
cence  of  Mrs.  Eaton,  he  made  her  cause  his  own,  and  to  the 
end  he  knew  no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning. 

The  new  administration  was  not  far  upon  its  tempestuous 
voyage  before  the  trouble  began.  The  relentless  hostility 
of  the  leaders  of  Washington  society  against  Mrs.  Eaton 
was  manifested  in  every  possible  way.  Their  doors  were 
firmly  closed  against  her.  This,  of  itself,  would  have  been 
of  comparatively  little  moment,  but  serious  consequences  were 
to  grow  out  of  it.  From  private  parlors  and  drawing-rooms 
the  controversy  soon  reached  the  little  coterie  that  constituted 
the  official  family  of  President  Jackson.  While  this  is  al 
most  forgotten  history  now,  one  chapter  of  Jackson's  biog 
raphy  published  soon  after  the  events  mentioned,  was  headed, 
"  Mr.  Van  Buren  calls  upon  Mrs.  Eaton."  As  is  well  known, 
the  creed  in  action  of  the  most  suave  of  our  presidents  was, 

"  The  statues  of  our  stately  fortunes 

Are  sculptured  with  the  chisel,  not  the  axe." 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  and  politic  of  statesmen.  He  was  in  line 
of  succession  to  the  great  office,  and  understood  well  the  im 
portance  of  maintaining  his  hold  upon  President  Jackson. 
A  widower  himself,  the  call  upon  which  so  much  stress  was 
laid  at  the  time  subjected  the  Secretary  of  State  to  no  em 
barrassment  at  home.  Not  so,  however,  with  three  of  his 
colleagues  in  the  Cabinet:  Mr.  Ingham,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Mr.  Branch  of  the  Navy,  and  Mr.  Berrien  the 
Attorney-General.  The  wife  of  each  of  these  gentlemen 


142  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

refused  to  return  Mrs.  Eaton's  call,  or  to  recognize  her  in  any 
possible  manner.  No  remonstrance  on  the  part  of  the  Presi 
dent  could  avail  to  secure  even  a  formal  exchange  of  courtesies 
on  the  part  of  these  ladies.  All  this  only  intensified  the  de 
termination  on  the  part  of  the  President  to  secure  to  the  wife 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  the  social  recognition  to  which  he 
considered  her  justly  entitled,  but  it  would  not  avail;  the  pur 
pose  of  the  most  resolute  man  on  earth  was  powerless  against 
a  determination  equal  to  his  own.  Never  was  more  forcibly 
exemplified  the  truth  of  the  old  couplet: 

"  When  a  woman  will,  she  will,  you  may  depend  on  % 
And  when  she  won't,  she  won't,  and  there  's  an  end  on  *t." 

As  to  how  Mrs.  Eaton  meanwhile  appeared  to  others,  some 
thing  may  be  gleaned  from  the  statement  of  a  distinguished 
gentleman  who  called  at  the  home  of  the  Secretary  of  War: 

"I  went  to  the  house  in  the  evening,  and  found  assembled 
there  a  large  company  of  gentlemen  who  paid  assiduous  court 
to  the  lady.  Mrs.  Eaton  was  not  then  the  celebrated  character 
she  was  destined  ere  long  to  be  made.  To  me  she  seemed  a 
strikingly  beautiful  and  fascinating  woman,  all  graciousness 
and  vivacity  —  the  life  of  the  company." 

That  the  discordant  status  of  the  households  of  the  official 
advisers  of  the  President  was  the  topic  of  discussion  among 
leading  statesmen,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following  ex 
tract  from  a  letter  written  at  the  time  by  Daniel  Webster: 

"Mr.  Van  Buren  has  evidently,  at  this  moment,  quite  the 
lead  in  influence  and  importance.  He  controls  all  the  pages  on 
the  back  stairs,  and  flatters  what  seems  to  be,  at  present,  the 
Aaron's  serpent  among  the  President's  desires,  a  settled  purpose 
of  making  out  of  the  lady  of  whom  so  much  has  been  said,  a 
person  of  reputation." 

Of  curious  interest  even  now,  is  the  closing  sentence  in 
Mr.  Webster's  letter,  in  which  with  prophetic  ken  he  forecasts 
the  effect  of  the  Eaton  controversy  upon  national  politics: 
"It  is  odd  enough,  but  too  evident  to  be  doubted,  that  the  con 
sequence  of  this  dispute  in  the  social  and  fashionable  world 
is  producing  great  political  effects,  and  may  very  probably 
determine  who  shall  be  successor  to  the  present  chief  magistrate." 


ALONG  THE  BYPATHS  OF  HISTORY  143 

As  explanatory  of  the  above  quotation,  it  will  be  remem 
bered  that  next  to  President  Jackson,  the  two  most  prom 
inent  leaders  of  the  dominant  party  were  Vice-President  Cal- 
houn  and  Secretary  of  State  Van  Buren.  The  political 
forces  were  even  then  gathering  around  one  or  the  other  of 
these  great  leaders,  and  there  was  little  question  in  official 
circles  that  the  successor  to  Jackson  would  be  either  Van 
Buren  or  Calhoun.  It  was  equally  certain  that  the  success 
ful  aspirant  would  be  the  one  who  had  the  good  fortune  to 
secure  the  powerful  influence  of  Jackson.  Chief  among  the 
friends  of  Calhoun  were  the  Cabinet  officers  Ingham,  Branch, 
and  Berrien.  The  incumbent  of  the  office  of  Postmaster- 
General  —  now  for  the  first  time  a  Cabinet  office  —  was  Wil 
liam  T.  Barry  of  Kentucky.  He  was  the  friend  of  Van 
Buren,  and  in  the  social  controversy  mentioned,  he  sided 
with  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  State  as  a  cham 
pion  of  Mrs.  Eaton.  As  to  the  views  of  the  Vice-President 
upon  the  all-absorbing  question,  we  have  no  information. 
Not  being  one  of  the  official  advisers  of  the  President,  he 
probably  kept  entirely  aloof  from  a  controversy  no  doubt  in 
every  way  distasteful  to  him. 

Meanwhile  the  relations  between  Secretary  Eaton  and  his 
colleagues  of  the  Treasury,  Navy,  and  Department  of  Justice, 
became  more  and  more  unfriendly,  until  all  communication 
other  than  of  the  most  formal  official  character  ceased.  The 
soul  of  the  President  was  vexed  beyond  endurance;  and  as  un 
der  existing  conditions  harmony  in  his  official  family  was 
impossible,  he  determined  upon  a  reorganization  of  his  Cabi 
net.  To  this  end,  the  resignations  of  Van  Buren,  Eaton,  and 
Barry  were  voluntarily  tendered,  and  promptly  accepted. 
A  formal  request  from  the  President  to  Messrs.  Ingham, 
Branch,  and  Berrien  secured  the  resignation  of  these  three 
official  advisers;  and  thus  was  brought  about  what  is  known 
in  our  political  history  as  "the  disruption  of  Jackson's 
Cabinet." 

The  three  gentlemen  whose  resignations  had  been  volun 
tarily  tendered,  were,  in  modern  political  parlance,  at  once 
" taken  care  of."  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  appointed  minister 


144  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

to  St.  James,  Barry  to  Madrid,  and  Eaton  to  the  governor 
ship  of  Florida  Territory.  No  such  good  fortune,  however, 
was  in  store  for  either  Ingham,  Branch,  or  Berrien.  Each 
was,  henceforth,  persona  non  grata  with  President  Jackson. 

The  end,  however,  was  not  yet.  A  publication  by  the 
retiring  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  contained  an  uncompli 
mentary  allusion  to  Mrs.  Eaton,  which  resulted  first  in  his 
receiving  a  challenge  from  her  husband,  and  later  in  a  street 
altercation. 

The  almost  forgotten  incidents  just  mentioned  were  rapidly 
leading  up  to  matters  of  deep  consequence.  The  true  sig 
nificance  of  the  words  of  Webster  last  quoted  will  now  ap 
pear.  A  rupture,  never  yet  fully  explained,  now  occurred 
between  President  Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun.  The  inten 
tion  of  the  former  to  secure  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  the  succession 
to  the  presidency  was  no  longer  a  matter  of  doubt. 

Van  Buren,  "the  favorite,"  was  meanwhile  reposing  upon 
no  bed  of  roses.  He  was,  in  very  truth,  "in  the  thick  of 
events."  His  confirmation  as  Minister  was  defeated  by  the 
casting  vote  of  Vice-President  Calhoun,  after  the  formal  pres 
entation  of  his  credentials  to  the  Court  to  which  he  had  been 
accredited.  It  was  believed  that  this  rejection  would  prove 
the  death  knell  to  Van  Buren's  Presidential  hopes.  But  it 
was  not  so  to  be.  His  rejection  aroused  deep  sympathy, 
secured  his  nomination  upon  the  ticket  with  Jackson  in  1832, 
and  for  four  years  he  presided  over  the  great  body  which  had 
so  lately  rejected  his  nomination,  and  as  is  well  known,  four 
years  later  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  Jackson  as  President. 
Unfortunately  for  Calhoun,  one  of  the  ablest  and  purest  of 
statesmen,  he  had  incurred  the  hostility  of  Jackson,  and  never 
attained  the  goal  of  his  ambition. 

During  my  interview  with  Mrs.  Eaton  I  said  to  her,  "Mad 
am,  you  must  have  known  General  Jackson  when  he  was 
President?  "  "Known  General  Jackson,"  she  replied,  "known 
General  Jackson?  "  "Oh,  yes,"  I  said,  "your  husband  was  a 
member  of  his  Cabinet  and  of  course  you  must  have  known 
him.  I  would  like  to  know  what  kind  of  a  man  General 
Jackson  really  was?  "  "  What  kind  of  a  man,"  replied  Mrs. 


ALONG  THE  BYPATHS  OF  HISTORY  145 

Eaton  in  a  manner  and  tone  not  easily  forgotten,  "What 
kind  of  a  man  —  a  god,  sir,  a  god."  The  spirit  of  the  past 
seemed  over  her,  as  with  trembling  voice  and  deep  emotion 
she  spoke  of  the  man  whose  powerful  and  unfaltering  friend 
ship  had  been  her  stay  and  bulwark  during  the  terrible  or 
deal  through  which  she  had  passed. 

Accompanying  her  that  evening  to  the  humble  home 
provided  for  her  by  a  distant  relative,  she  remarked,  "I  have 
seen  the  time,  sir,  when  I  could  have  invited  you  to  an  elegant 
home."  She  then  said  that  when  Major  Eaton  died,  he  left 
her  an  ample  fortune  but  that  some  years  later  she  unfor 
tunately  married  a  man  younger  than  herself,  who  succeeded 
in  getting  her  property  into  his  hands  and  then  cruelly  de 
serted  her. 

Fiction  indeed  seems  commonplace  when  contrasted 
with  the  story  of  real  life  such  as  this  now  penniless  and 
forgotten  woman  had  known.  Once  surrounded  by  all 
that  wealth  could  give,  herself  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  accomplished  of  women,  her  husband  the  incumbent  of 
exalted  official  position,  —  now,  wealth,  beauty,  and  posi 
tion  vanished;  the  grave  hiding  all  she  loved;  sitting  hi  silence 
and  desolation,  the  memories  of  the  long  past  almost  her  sole 
companions.  When  in  the  tide  of  time  has  there  been  truer 
realization  of  the  words  of  the  great  bard  — 

"  The  web  of  our  life  is  of  a  mingled  yarn, 
Good  and  ill  together?  " 


THE    CODE   OF   HONOR 

BLADENSBURG,  A  PLACE  NOTOEIOUS  FOR  DUELS  —  FRANKLIN'S 
OPINION  OF  DUELLING  —  NOTABLE  MEN  WHO  FELL  IN  DUELS  — 
FATAL  DUEL  BETWEEN  COMMODORES  BARRON  AND  DECATUR 

—  THE  LAST  DUEL  FOUGHT  AT  BLADENSBURG ITS  CAUSE  A 

MERE     PUNCTILIO THE     WRITER'S    INTERVIEW     WITH    ONE 

OF  THE  SECONDS  —  A  DUEL  IN  REVOLUTION  DAYS GEORGE 

WASHINGTON    DISSUADES    GEN.    GREENE    FROM    ACCEPTING    A 

CHALLENGE GEN.      CONWAY,      FOR      CONSPIRING      AGAINST 

WASHINGTON,     WOUNDED     BY      COL.       CADWALLADER GEN. 

CHARLES    LEE,    ANOTHER    CONSPIRATOR,    WOUNDED    BY    COL. 

LAURENS DUEL     BETWEEN     CLINTON,      "THE     FATHER     OF 

THE    ERIE    CANAL,"    AND    MR.    SWARTOUT  —  THREE    NOTABLE 

REPLIES     TO      CHALLENGES THE     FATAL     DUEL     BETWEEN 

HAMILTON  AND  BURR  —  UNHAPPINESS  OF  BURR'S  OLD  AGE  — 
DUEL     BETWEEN     SENATOR     BRODERICK     AND     JUDGE    TERRY 

—  A    HARMLESS    DUEI.   BETWEEN     SENATOR     GWIN     AND     MR. 

MCCORKLE  —  A  MURDER  UNDER  THE  GUISE  OF  A  DUEL  — 
DUELLING  BY  ILLINOISANS LINCOLN'S  INSTRUCTIONS  FOR 

THE  PRELIMINARIES  OF  HIS  DUEL  WITH  SENATOR  SHIELDS. 

THE  very  name  "  Bladensburg  "  is   suggestive  of  pistol 
and  bullet,  savors  indeed  of  human  blood.    It  is  associ 
ated  with  tragic  events  that  during  successive  genera 
tions  stirred  emotions  of  indignation  and  horror  that  have 
not  yet  wholly  died  out  from  the  memories  of  men.    As  the 
words  "Baden-Baden"  and  " Monte  Carlo"  bring  before  us 
the  gambler  " steeped  in  the  colors  of  his  trade,"  so  the 
mere  mention  of  Bladensburg  calls  to  mind  the  duellist, 
pistol  in  hand,  standing  in  front  of  his  slain  antagonist. 

Personal  difficulties  are  now  rarely  if  ever  in  this  country 
adjusted  by  an  appeal  to  "the  code."  The  custom,  now 
universally  condemned  as  barbarous,  was  at  an  early  day 
practically  upheld  by  an  almost  omnipotent  public  opinion. 
As  is  well  known,  in  many  localities  to  have  declined  an  invi 
tation  to  "the  field  of  honor"  from  one  entitled  to  the  des- 


146 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  147 

ignation  of  "gentleman''  would  have  entailed  not  only  loss 
of  social  position,  but  to  a  public  man  have  been  a  bar  to 
future  political  advancement.  Thanks  to  a  higher  civiliza 
tion,  and  possibly  a  more  exalted  estimate  of  the  sacredness 
of  human  life,  the  code  in  all  our  American  States  is  a  thing 
of  the  past. 

And  yet,  revolting  as  the  custom  now  appears,  it  held  its 
place  as  a  recognized  method  for  the  settlement  of  personal 
controversies  among  " gentlemen,*'  to  a  time  within  the  mem 
ories  of  men  still  living.  The  code,  a  heritage  from  barbaric 
times,  lingered  till  it  had  caused  more  than  one  bloody  chapter 
to  be  written,  until  it  had  taken  from  the  walks  of  life  more 
than  one  of  our  most  gifted  American  statesmen. 

Truer  words  were  never  written  than  those  of  Franklin 
at  the  time  when  the  code  was  appealed  to  for  the  settlement 
of  every  dispute  pertaining  to  personal  honor :  "  A  duel  decides 
nothing;  the  man  appealing  to  it,  makes  himself  judge  in 
his  own  cause,  condemns  the  offender  without  a  jury,  and 
undertakes  himself  to  be  the  executioner."  And  yet,  the 
startling  record  remains  that  hi  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  brilliant  of  statesmen  met  death  at  the 
hands  of  an  antagonist  scarcely  less  gifted,  who  was  at  the 
time  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  The  survivor  of 
an  encounter  equally  tragic,  occurring  near  the  banks  of  the 
Cumberland  in  1806,  was  a  little  more  than  a  score  of  years 
later  elevated  to  the  Presidency.  The  valuable  life  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  during  the  administration  of  the 
younger  Adams  was  saved  only  by  his  antagonist  mag 
nanimously  refusing  to  return  the  fire  which  came  within 
an  ace  of  ending  his  own  life.  Thirteen  years  after  the  Clay 
and  Randolph  duel,  a  member  of  Congress  from  Maine  per 
ished  in  an  encounter  at  Bladensburg  with  a  representative 
from  Kentucky.  Sixty-six  years  ago,  a  challenge  to  mortal 
combat  was  accepted  by  one  who  in  later  years  was  twice 
elected  to  the  Presidency.  One  of  the  signers  of  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  fell  in  a  duel  with  an  officer  of  the  Colo 
nial  army,  soon  after  that  great  event.  There  are  many  yet 


148          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

living  who  read  the  startling  telegram  from  the  Pacific  coast 
that  a  Senator  from  California  had  fallen  in  a  duel  with  the 
Chief  Justice  of  that  State,  and  sad  as  it  is,  this  dreadful  recital 
might  be  much  farther  extended. 

While  a  member  of  Congress  many  years  ago,  in  com 
pany  with  Representatives  Knott  and  McKenzie  of  Kentucky 
I  spent  some  hours  upon  the  historic  duelling  ground  at 
Bladensburg,  a  Maryland  village  of  a  few  hundred  inhabitants, 
six  miles  from  the  city  of  Washington.  Governor  Knott 
pointed  out  the  exact  spot  where  Barren  and  Decatur  stood 
in  the  memorable  duel  in  1820,  in  which  the  latter  was  killed. 
It  is  impossible  to  read  the  account  of  this  fatal  meeting  even 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  four  score  years,  without  a  feeling 
of  profound  regret  for  the  sad  fate  of  one  of  the  most  gallant 
of  all  the  brave  officers  the  American  Navy  has  known.  It 
was  truly  said  of  Decatur:  "He  was  one  of  the  most  chivalric 
men  of  any  age  or  country."  He  was  one  of  the  little  band 
of  naval  commanders  who  by  heroic  exploits  at  sea  did  so 
much  to  redeem  the  American  name  from  the  humiliation 
and  disgrace  caused  by  incompetent  generalship  upon  land, 
in  our  second  war  with  Great  Britain.  His  encounters  with 
the  enemy  were  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  in  each  instance 
added  new  laurels  to  our  little  navy.  If  Commodore  Decatur 
had  rendered  no  other  service  to  his  country,  that  of  the  de 
struction  of  the  Algerine  pirates  would  alone  entitle  him  to 
a  place  among  its  benefactors.  His  skill  and  daring  when 
in  command  of  our  little  fleet  upon  the  Mediterranean  de 
stroyed  forever  the  power  of  "the  common  enemy  of  man 
kind,"  avenged  the  insult  to  our  flag,  and  secured  for  the 
American  name  an  honored  place  among  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

The  tragic  death  of  Decatur  —  recalling  so  much  of  gal 
lant  service  —  has  cast  a  spell  about  his  name.  It  belongs 
in  the  list  of  the  immortals,  with  the  names  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  Captain  Lawrence,  Lord  Nelson,  and  Oliver  Hazard 
Perry.  Cities  and  counties  without  number  throughout  our 
entire  country  have  been  given  the  honored  name  of 
Decatur. 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  149 

Commodore  Barron,  too,  had  known  much  active  service. 
For  an  alleged  official  delinquency,  he  had  been  court-mar 
tialed  near  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  sentenced  to  a 
suspension  of  five  years  from  his  command.  Smarting  under 
this  humiliation,  he  was  bitter  in  his  denunciation  of  all 
who  were  in  any  way  concerned  in  what  he  regarded  an  act 
of  flagrant  injustice  to  himself.  Chief  among  the  officers 
who  had  incurred  his  displeasure  was  Commodore  Decatur. 
A  protracted  and  at  length  hostile  correspondence  ensued 
between  the  two,  and  this  correspondence  resulted  at  length 
in  a  challenge  from  Barron,  accepted  by  Decatur.  The 
latter  had  repeatedly  declared  that  he  bore  no  personal 
hostility  toward  Barron.  Before  going  to  the  fatal  field 
he  told  his  friend  William  Wirt  —  then  the  Attorney-General 
of  the  United  States  —  that  he  did  not  wish  to  meet  Barron, 
and  that  the  duel  was  forced  upon  him.  When  he  received 
the  challenge,  he  assured  a  brother  officer  that  nothing  could 
induce  him  to  take  the  life  of  Barron.  In  connection  with 
this  sad  affair,  Mr.  Wirt  —  who  was  untiring  in  his  efforts 
to  effect  a  reconciliation  —  has  left  the  record  of  a  conver 
sation  with  Decatur  in  which  the  latter  declared  his  hostility 
to  the  practice  of  duelling,  but  that  he  was  "  con  trolled  by 
the  omnipotence  of  public  sentiment."  "Fighting,"  said  he, 
"is  my  profession,  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  keep 
my  station  and  preserve  my  respectability  without  showing 
myself  ready  at  all  times  to  answer  the  call  of  any  one  who 
bore  the  name  of  gentleman." 

The  hostile  meeting  between  Barron  and  Decatur  occurred 
at  the  place  already  mentioned,  March  22,  1820.  The  dis 
tance  was  eight  paces,  the  weapons,  pistols.  Decatur's 
second  was  Captain  Bainbridge,  at  a  later  day  a  distin 
guished  admiral  in  our  navy.  As  they  took  their  places  at 
the  deadly  range,  Barron  said,  "I  hope  on  meeting  in  another 
world  we  will  be  better  friends  than  in  this."  To  which 
Decatur  replied,  "I  have  never  been  your  enemy,  sir." 
At  the  word  both  pistols  were  discharged,  making  but  a 
single  report.  Both  combatants  fell.  Decatur  was  sup 
ported  a  short  distance,  and  sank  down  near  his  antagonist, 


150  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

who  was  severely — and  as  it  was  then  supposed,  mortally — 
wounded.  Mr.  Wirt  says: 

"What  then  occurred  reminded  me  of  the  closing  scenes 
of  the  tragedy  between  Hamlet  and  Laertes.  Barren  proposed 
that  they  should  make  friends  before  they  met  in  another  world. 
Decatur  said  he  had  never  been  his  enemy,  that  he  freely  forgave 
him  his  death,  but  he  could  not  forgive  those  who  had  stimulated 
him  to  seek  his  life.  Barron  then  said:  '  Would  to  God  you  had 
said  that  much  yesterday.' " 

Thus  they  parted  in  peace.  Decatur  knew  he  was  to  die,  and 
his  only  regret  was  that  he  had  not  died  in  the  service  of 
his  country. 

The  last  duel  fought  at  Bladensburg  was  in  1838,  between 
Jonathan  Cilley  and  William  J.  Graves.  The  former  was 
at  the  time  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  Maine,  and 
the  latter  from  Kentucky.  In  its  main  features,  this  duel 
is  without  a  parallel.  It  was  fought  upon  a  pure  technicality. 
The  parties  to  it  never  exchanged  an  unkind  word,  and  were 
in  fact,  almost  up  to  the  day  of  the  fatal  meeting,  comparative 
strangers  to  each  other. 

Briefly  related,  the  fatal  meeting  between  Cilley  and 
Graves  came  about  in  this  wise.  In  a  speech  in  the  House, 
Mr.  Cilley  in  replying  to  an  editorial  in  The  New  York  Courier 
and  Inquirer,  criticised  severely  the  conduct  of  its  proprietor, 
James  Watson  Webb,  a  noted  Whig  editor  of  that  day.  At 
this,  the  latter,  being  deeply  offended  and  failing  to  obtain 
a  retraction  by  Cilley  of  the  offensive  words,  challenged  him 
to  mortal  combat.  The  bearer  of  this  challenge  was  William 
J.  Graves,  a  prominent  Whig  member  of  the  House.  Mr. 
Cilley  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Graves,  in  which  he  declined  to 
receive  the  challenge  of  Webb,  said:  "I  decline  to  receive  it 
because  I  choose  to  be  drawn  into  no  controversy  with  him. 
I  neither  affirm  nor  deny  anything  in  regard  to  his  character, 
but  I  now  repeat  what  I  have  said  to  you,  that  I  intended 
by  the  refusal  no  disrespect  to  you." 

This  letter  was  considered  unsatisfactory  by  Graves,  and 
he  immediately  sent  by  his  colleague  Mr.  Menifee,  a  note  to 
Cilley  then  in  his  seat  in  the  House,  saying:  "In  declining 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  151 

to  receive  Colonel  Webb's  communication,  you  do  not  dis 
claim  any  exception  to  him  personally  as  a  gentleman.  I 
have,  therefore,  to  inquire  whether  you  declined  to  receive 
his  communication  on  the  ground  of  any  personal  exception 
to  him  as  a  gentleman  or  a  man  of  honor."  Mr.  Cilley  de 
clining  to  give  the  categorical  answer  demanded,  was  imme 
diately  challenged  by  Graves.  The  challenge  was  borne  by 
Mr.  Wise,  a  Representative  from  Virginia.  On  the  same 
evening,  Mr.  Jones  —  then  a  delegate  and  later  a  Senator 
from  Iowa  —  as  the  second  of  Cilley,  handed  the  note  of 
acceptance  of  the  latter  to  Graves.  Bladensburg  was  desig 
nated  as  the  place  of  meeting,  rifles  the  weapons,  the  distance 
eighty  yards,  the  rifles  to  be  held  horizontally  at  arm's  length 
down,  to  be  cocked  and  triggers  set,  the  words  to  be,  "  Gen  tie- 
men,  are  you  ready?"  Some  delay  was  occasioned  by  the 
difficulty  in  procuring  a  suitable  rifle  for  Mr.  Graves.  This 
was  at  length  obviated,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  note 
of  Mr.  Jones  to  Mr.  Wise:  "I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you 
that  I  have  in  my  possession  an  excellent  rifle,  in  good  order, 
which  is  at  the  service  of  Mr.  Graves."  With  every  courtesy 
proper  to  the  occasion  rigidly  observed,  the  rifle  mentioned, 
''through  the  politeness  of  Dr.  Duncan,"  was  sent  to  Mr. 
Graves,  and  the  hostile  meeting  occurred  at  the  designated 
time,  February  24,  1838. 

From  the  report  of  a  special  committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  a  later  day  appointed  to  investigate  this 
affair,  it  appears  that  Mr.  Graves  was  accompanied  to  the 
ground  by  his  second,  Mr.  Wise,  Mr.  Crittenden^  and  Mr. 
Menifee,  two  of  his  colleagues,  and  Dr.  Foltz  his  surgeon. 
The  attendants  of  Mr.  Cilley  were  his  second,  Mr.  Jones, 
Representative  Bynum  of  North  Carolina,  and  Colonel  Schoen- 
berg,  and  Dr.  Duncan  as  his  surgeon.  The  Committee's  re 
port  then  continues  in  these  words: 

"Shortly  after  three  o'clock  P.  M.  the  parties  exchanged 
shots  according  to  the  terms  of  meeting.  Mr.  Cilley  fired  first 
before  he  had  fully  elevated  his  piece,  and  Mr.  Graves  one  or 
two  seconds  afterwards.  Both  missed.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  both 
the  seconds  and  to  the  other  gentlemen  in  attendance,  that  an 


152  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

earnest  desire  was  then  manifested  to  have  the  affair  terminated, 
as  will  appear  from  the  report  already  mentioned." 

Mr.  Jones  now  inquired  of  Mr.  Wise  whether  Mr.  Graves 
was  satisfied,  to  which  Mr.  Wise  replied:  " These  gentlemen 
have  come  here  without  animosity  toward  each  other;  they 
are  fighting  merely  upon  a  point  of  honor.  Cannot  Mr.  Cilley 
assign  some  reason  for  not  receiving  at  Mr.  Graves' s  hands 
Colonel  Webb's  communication,  or  make  some  disclaimer 
which  will  relieve  Mr.  Graves  from  his  position?"  Mr.  Jones 
replied:  " While  the  challenge  is  impending,  Mr.  Cilley  can 
make  no  explanation."  Mr.  Wise  said:  "The  exchange  of 
shots  suspends  the  challenge,  and  the  challenge  is  suspended 
for  explanation."  Mr.  Jones  thereupon  went  to  Mr.  Cilley, 
and  after  returning  said: 

"I  am  authorized  by  my  friend  Mr.  Cilley  to  say,  that  in 
declining  to  receive  the  note  from  Mr.  Graves  purporting  to 
come  from  Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no  disrespect  to  Mr.  Graves 
because  he  entertained  for  him  then  as  he  does  now,  the  highest 
respect  and  the  most  kind  feeling;  but  that  he  declined  to  receive 
the  note  because  he  chose  not  to  be  drawn  into  any  controversy 
with  Colonel  Webb." 

The  above  not  being  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Graves,  and  Mr. 
Cilley  declining  to  make  further  concession,  the  challenge 
was  renewed  and  the  parties  resumed  their  positions  and 
again  exchanged  shots.  Mr.  Graves  fired  first,  before  he 
had  fully  elevated  his  piece;  Mr.  Cilley  about  two  seconds 
afterwards.  They  both  missed,  although  the  witnesses  then 
thought  from  the  motions  and  appearance  of  Mr.  Graves  that 
he  was  hit.  The  latter  immediately  and  peremptorily  de 
manded  another  shot. 

The  challenge  was  here  again,  for  the  time,  withdrawn 
and  another  unsuccessful  attempt  made  by  the  seconds  to 
effect  an  adjustment.  In  the  light  of  what  was  so  soon  to 
follow,  it  is  painful  to  read  that  all  this  came  about  and  con 
tinued  to  the  bloody  end,  because  Mr.  Cilley  in  substance 
refused  to  disclaim  that  his  declination  of  Webb's  challenge 
was  for  the  reason  that  he  did  not  consider  him  a  gentle 
man.  His  repeated  assurance  that  in  doing  so,  he  intended 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  153 

no  disrespect  to  the  bearer  of  the  challenge,  for  whom  he 
entertained  the  most  kindly  feelings,  strangely  enough  to 
us  was  deemed  insufficient. 

The  challenge  being  renewed,  the  parties,  after  due  ob 
servance  of  the  formalities  as  before,  confronted  each  other 
for  the  third  and  last  time.  And  now  closes  the  official  report : 
"The  rifles  being  loaded,  the  parties  resumed  their  stations, 
and  fired  the  third  time  very  near  together.  Mr.  Cilley  was 
shot  through  the  body.  He  dropped  his  rifle,  beckoned  to 
some  one  near  him,  and  said,  'I  am  shot/  put  both  his  hands 
to  his  wound,  fell,  and  in  two  or  three  minutes  expired." 

What  a  commentary  all  this  upon  "the  code  of  honor"! 
Upon  what  appears  the  shadow  of  a  technicality  even,  two 
young  men  of  recognized  ability,  chosen  representatives  of 
the  people,  confronted  each  other  in  continued  combat,  until 
death  closed  the  scene,  and  neither  had  the  slightest  feeling 
of  hostility  toward  the  other!  This  duel,  so  utterly  ground 
less  in  its  inception  and  bloody  in  its  termination,  was  the 
last  fought  in  Bladensburg.  Intense  excitement  followed 
the  death  of  the  lamented  Cilley  and  public  sentiment  was 
deeply  aroused  against  the  horrible  custom  of  duelling.  But 
the  public  sentiment  that  existed  at  the  time  must  be  taken 
in  to 'account  before  a  too  ready  condemnation  of  one  of  the 
actors  in  this  fearful  tragedy.  In  announcing  the  death  of 
Mr.  Cilley  to  the  Senate,  Mr.  Williams  of  Maine  said:  "In 
accepting  the  call,  he  did  nothing  more  than  he  believed  in 
dispensable  to  avoid  disgrace  to  himself,  his  family,  and  his 
constituents." 

While  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  a  gentleman  of 
small  stature  and  of  advanced  age  called  upon  me  and  intro 
duced  himself  as  George  W.  Jones,  former  Senator  from  Iowa. 
I  have  rarely  met  a  more  interesting  man.  He  was  then 
ninety-two  years  of  age,  apparently  in  perfect  health,  and 
as  active  as  if,  for  his  exclusive  benefit,  the  hands  had  been 
turned  back  three  decades  upon  the  dial.  He  had  been  a 
delegate  from  the  Territory  embracing  the  present  States  of 
Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  in  the  twenty-fifth  Congress,  when  the 
sessions  of  the  House  were  held  in  the  Old  Hall.  Upon  the 


154  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

admission  of  Iowa  as  a  State,  he  was  chosen  a  Senator,  a 
position  he  held  by  successive  elections  for  many  years.  As 
delegate,  he  had  been  the  associate  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
as  a  Senator  the  contemporary  of  Benton,  Wright,  Douglas, 
Cass,  Seward,  Preston,  Clay,  Calhoun,  and  Webster.  He  had 
personally  known  some  of  the  men  whose  public  life  reached 
back  to  the  establishment  of  the  Government.  He  had 
taken  part  in  the  discussion  of  great  questions  that  have 
left  a  deep  impress  upon  history.  As  I  listened  to  his  de 
scription  of  the  men  I  have  named,  and  of  the  momentous 
events  with  which  their  names  are  associated,  he  seemed 
indeed  the  sole  connecting  link  between  the  present  and  the 
long  past. 

But  what  interested  me  most  deeply  in  the  almost  for 
gotten  old  man  before  me,  was  the  fact  that  he  was  the  second 
of  the  unfortunate  Cilley  upon  the  ill-fated  day  at  Bladensburg. 
The  conversation  at  length  turned  to  that  event,  and  strangely 
enough,  he  manifested  no  suggestion  of  embarrassment  at 
its  mention.  He  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  Mr.  Cilley, 
as  a  gentleman  of  lofty  character,  of  unfaltering  courage,  of 
rare  gifts,  and  of  splendid  promise.  It  was  evident  that  the 
passing  years  had  not  dimmed  his  memory  of  the  tragic  event, 
nor  lessened  his  regret  at  the  sad  ending  of  an  affair  with 
which  his  own  name  is  inseparably  associated. 

The  first  duel  between  men  of  prominence  in  this  country, 
was  that  of  Gwinett  and  Mclntosh.  The  fact  that  one  of  the 
parties,  Button  Gwinett,  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  gives  it  historic  interest.  He  was  one  of  the 
three  delegates  from  Georgia  in  the  second  Continental  Con 
gress,  and  an  earnest  champion  of  independence.  Six  years 
before,  he  had  emigrated  from  England,  purchased  a  large 
tract  of  land,  and  devoted  himself  to  agricultural  pursuits. 
Less  is  known  of  him,  probably,  than  of  any  of  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration. 

In  1777,  he  became  involved  in  a  bitter  personal  quarrel 
with  General  Mclntosh,  an  officer  of  the  Revolution.  Deeply 
offended  at  his  conduct,  Gwinett  challenged  him  to  mortal 
combat.  They  fought  with  pistols  at  a  distance  of  twelve 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  155 

feet,  and  Gwinett  was  killed.  He  is  buried  at  Augusta, 
Georgia,  with  his  two  colleagues  in  the  Continental  Congress. 
It  is  now  an  almost  forgotten  fact  that,  but  for  the  wise 
counsel  of  his  superior  officer,  Nathaniel  Greene,  next  to 
Washington  the  ablest  of  the  American  generals,  would  have 
been  a  party  to  a  duel  at  a  time  when  his  services  were  so 
greatly  in  demand.  Soon  after  his  transfer  to  the  southern 
army,  Greene  was  challenged  by  a  captain  of  his  command. 
Fearing  that  a  declination  upon  his  part  would  be  misunder 
stood  by  his  brother  officers,  Greene  wrote  General  Wash 
ington  a  full  account  of  the  transaction,  concluding:  "If  I 
thought  my  honor  or  reputation  would  suffer  in  the  opinion  of 
the  world,  and  more  especially  with  the  military  gentlemen, 
I  value  life  too  little  to  hesitate  a  moment  to  accept  the  chal 
lenge."  The  answer  of  one  of  the  wisest  of  men  possibly  saved 
to  our  little  army  one  whose  loss  would  have  been  disastrous 
to  his  country  at  that  critical  moment.  Said  Washington: 

"I  give  it  as  my  decided  opinion,  that  your  honor  and 
reputation  will  stand  not  only  perfectly  acquitted  for  the  non- 
acceptance  of  his  challenge,  but  that  your  prudence  and  judg 
ment  would  have  been  condemned  by  accepting  it;  because  if 
a  commanding  officer  is  amenable  to  private  calls  for  the  dis 
charge  of  his  public  duty,  he  has  a  dagger  always  at  his  heart, 
and  can  turn  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left  without  meeting 
its  point. " 

The  timely  words  of  Washington  had  the  desired  effect,  and 
very  probably  saved  General  Greene  to  a  brilliant  career  of 
usefulness  and  glory. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  incidents  of  our  Revolutionary 
history,  is  what  is  known  as  "The  Conway  Cabal/'  the 
attempt  to  displace  Washington  from  the  supreme  command 
and  substitute  General  Horatio  Gates  in  his  stead.  The 
latter  was  then  in  high  favor  as  the  hero  of  Saratoga  and 
the  capturer  of  the  invading  army  of  Burgoyne.  In  this 
connection,  the  prophetic  words  of  the  deeply  embittered 
General  Charles  Lee  will  be  recalled.  On  his  way  to  take 
command  of  the  southern  army  to  which  he  had  just  been 
assigned,  Gates  called  upon  Lee,  then  in  disgrace  and  retire 
ment  at  his  home.  Both  were  Englishmen,  had  known  ser- 


156  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

vice  together  in  the  British  army,  and  were  at  the  time 
owners  of  neighboring  plantations  in  what  is  now  Jefferson 
County,  West  Virginia.  When  parting,  Lee  significantly  re 
marked  to  his  old  comrade,  "Gates,  your  Northern  laurels  will 
soon  be  turned  into  Southern  willows.' '  The  disastrous  defeat 
at  Camden  soon  thereafter  terminated  the  military  career  of 
Gates  no  less  effectually  than  the  timely  " curse"  of  Wash 
ington  had  terminated  that  of  Lee  upon  his  disgraceful  retreat 
at  the  battle  of  Monmouth. 

The  result  of  the  "Cabal"  above  mentioned  was  a  chal 
lenge  from  Colonel  Cadwallader  to  General  Conway,  whose 
name  has  come  down  to  us  associated  with  the  conspiracy 
to  supersede  Washington  by  Gates.  In  an  encounter  which 
immediately  followed,  Conway  was  seriously  wounded.  Be 
lieving  his  wound  to  be  mortal,  he  called  for  pen  and  paper 
and  did  much  to  retrieve  his  reputation  by  writing  the  fol 
lowing  letter  to  Washington: 

"Sm:  I  find  myself  just  able  to  hold  my  pen  during  a  few 
moments  and  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  sincere  grief 
for  having  written,  said,  or  done  anything  disagreeable  to  Your 
Excellency.  My  career  will  soon  be  over,  therefore  justice  and 
truth  prompt  me  to  declare  my  last  sentiments.  You  are  in 
my  eyes  the  great  and  good  man.  May  you  long  enjoy  the  love, 
esteem,  and  veneration  of  these  States  whose  liberties  you  have 
asserted  by  your  virtues." 

Conway  eventually  recovered,  entered  the  army  of  France, 
and  died  in  its  service. 

General  Charles  Lee  was  indeed  a  soldier  of  fortune.  A 
native  of  England,  he  held  a  commission  in  the  British  army, 
and  later  in  that  of  the  King  of  Italy.  As  the  result  of  a  duel 
in  which  he  slew  an  Italian  officer,  he  fled  to  America,  and 
tendered  his  services  to  the  Continental  Congress  just  at  the 
beginning  of  the  struggle  for  independence.  He  was  placed 
second  in  command  to  Washington  and  was  not  without  sup 
porters  for  the  coveted  position  of  Commander-in-chief.  He 
was  from  the  beginning  the  enemy  of  Washington,  and  deeply 
resented  the  fact  that  his  position  was  subordinate  to  that  of 
the  younger  and  less  experienced  officer,  for  whose  ability 
he  expressed  great  contempt.  He  was  a  friend  of  Gates  and 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  157 

one  of  the  chief  conspirators  in  the  Conway  Cabal.  His  mili 
tary  career  closed  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  and  from  let 
ters  that  have  come  to  light  there  is  little  doubt  that  he 
was  then  in  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  enemy. 

After  being  deprived  of  his  command  at  Monmouth,  he 
was  challenged  by  Colonel  John  Laurens,  one  of  the  aides  of 
the  Commander-in-chief,  because  of  his  denunciation  of 
Washington.  The  challenge  was  accepted,  and  the  parties 
fought  with  pistols  in  a  retired  spot  near  Philadelphia.  Addi 
tional  interest  attaches  to  this  duel  from  the  fact  that  Colonel 
Alexander  Hamilton  of  Washington's  staff,  was  the  second 
for  Laurens. 

At  the  first  fire  Lee  was  wounded,  and  then,  through  the 
interposition  of  Hamilton  the  affair  terminated.  The  gratify 
ing  narrative  has  come  down  to  us  that,  "upon  the  whole, 
we  think  it  a  piece  of  justice  to  the  two  gentlemen  to  declare 
that,  after  they  met,  their  conduct  was  strongly  marked  with 
all  the  politeness,  generosity,  coolness,  and  firmness,  that 
ought  to  characterize  a  transaction  of  this  nature." 

The  last  years  of  Lee's  life  were  spent  at  his  Virginia 
plantation.  He  died  in  an  obscure  boarding-house  in  Phil 
adelphia,  hi  1782.  Upon  a  visit  I  made  to  his  Virginia  home 
some  years  ago,  I  was  shown  a  certified  copy  of  his  will,  which 
contained  this  remarkable  provision: 

"  It  is  my  will,  that  I  shall  not  be  buried  within  one  mile  of 
any  churchyard,  or  of  any  Presbyterian  or  Anabaptist  church, 
for  the  reason  that  as  /  have  kept  a  great  deal  of  bad  company  in 
this  world,  I  do  not  wish  to  do  so  in  the  next." 

This  country  has  known  few  abler  or  more  eminent  men 
than  DeWitt  Clinton.  He  was  successively  Mayor  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  Governor  of  that  State,  a  Senator  in  Congress, 
and  in  1812  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  Presidency 
against  Mr.  Madison.  Distinguished  as  a  lawyer  and  states 
man,  he  is  even  better  known  as  "  the  Father  of  the  Erie 
Canal."  His  biographer  says: 

"After  undergoing  constant,  unremitting,  and  factious  re 
sistance,  he  had  the  felicity  of  being  borne,  in  October,  1825, 
in  a  barge  on  the  artificial  river  —  which  he  seemed  to  all  to  have 


158  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

constructed  —  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Bay  of  New  York,  while 
bells  were  rung,  and  cannon  saluted  him  at  every  stage  of  that 
imposing  progress." 

In  1803,  while  in  the  Senate,  Clinton  accepted  a  challenge 
from  General  Dayton,  a  Senator  from  New  Jersey.  The 
ground  of  the  challenge  was  words  spoken  by  the  former  in 
debate.  Before  the  hostile  meeting,  however,  through  the  in 
terposition  of  friends  a  satisfactory  explanation  upon  the  part 
of  Clinton  resulted  in  a  peaceable  adjustment,  and  the 
restoration  of  friendly  relations  between  the  two  Senators. 

An  "affair  of  honor"  in  which  Clinton  was  engaged  one 
year  earlier,  was  not  quite  so  easily  adjusted.  This  was 
with  a  noted  politician  of  that  day,  John  Swartout  of  New 
York.  The  latter  was  the  friend  of  Aaron  Burr,  the  political 
and  personal  enemy  of  Clinton.  Swartout  was  the  chal 
lenging  party,  and  the  hostile  meeting  occurred  near  the  city 
of  New  York.  On  the  ground,  after  the  parties  had  been 
placed  in  position,  Clinton  is  said  to  have  expressed  regret 
that  Burr  —  the  real  principal  in  the  controversy  —  was  not 
before  him.  History  might  have  run  in  a  different  channel 
had  such  been  the  fact. 

Three  pistol  shots  were  exchanged  without  effect,  at  the 
end  of  each  the  second  of  Clinton  demanding  of  Swartout, 
"  Are  you  satisfied,  sir? "  to  which  the  answer  was,  "  I  am 
not."  To  this,  at  the  third  exchange,  was  added,  "  neither 
shall  I  be  until  that  apology  is  made  which  I  have  demanded 
of  Mr.  Clinton."  Mr.  Clinton  declined  to  sign  a  paper  pre 
sented,  but  declared  that  he  had  no  animosity  against  Mr. 
Swartout,  and  would  willingly  shake  hands  and  agree  to 
meet  on  the  score  of  former  friendship.  This  being  unsatis 
factory,  the  fourth  shot  was  promptly  exchanged.  Fortune, 
heretofore  reluctant  to  decide  between  her  favorites,  now 
leaned  toward  the  challenged  party  —  Mr.  Swartout  being 
struck  just  below  the  knee.  In  reply  to  the  inquiry,  "Are 
you  satisfied,  sir?"  standing  erect  while  the  surgeon  kneel 
ing  beside  him  removed  the  ball,  he  answered,  "I  am  not; 
proceed"  The  fifth  shot  being  exchanged,  Mr.  Swartout's 
other  leg  was  the  recipient  of  his  antagonist's  bullet.  The 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  159 

voice  of  the  wounded  man  being  still  for  war,  Mr.  Clinton 
here  threw  down  his  pistol,  declaring  he  would  fight  no  longer, 
and  immediately  retired  from  the  ground.  The  second  of 
the  remaining  belligerent  now  advised  his  principal  to  re 
tire  also  and  have  his  wounds  dressed,  which  certainly  seemed 
reasonable  under  all  the  circumstances. 

An  answer  to  a  challenge  that  might  well  stand  for  a 
model  for  all  time,  was  that  given  during  the  administration 
of  the  older  Adams  by  Mr.  Thatcher  of  Massachusetts,  to 
Blount  of  North  Carolina.  The  challenge  grew  out  of  a 
heated  debate  in  the  House.  In  reply,  Thatcher  said  in 
substance,  that  being  a  husband  and  father,  his  family  had 
an  interest  in  his  life,  and  that  he  could  not  think  of  accepting 
the  invitation  without  the  consent  of  his  wife,  that  he  would 
immediately  consult  her,  and  if  successful  in  obtaining  her 
permission,  he  would  meet  Mr.  Blount  with  pleasure.  Where 
upon  Fisher  Ames,  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  day,  wittily 
remarked  to  a  bachelor  colleague,  "Behold  now  the  advan 
tage  of  having  a  wife  —  God  preserve  us  all  from  gunpowder!" 

The  reply  of  Thatcher  was  read  in  the  House,  causing 
much  merriment  and  leaving  his  adversary  — 

"  Sacred  to  ridicule  his  whole  life  long, 
And  the  sad  burden  of  some  merry  song." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  at  last  accounts  the 
consent  of  Mrs.  Thatcher  had  not  been  obtained. 

It  is  scarcely  remembered  that  Lord  Byron,  angered  by 
a  bitter  criticism,  once  challenged  the  poet  Southey.  Ac 
cepting  the  challenge  conditionally,  Southey  added: 

"  In  affairs  of  this  kind,  the  participants  ought  to  meet  on 
equal  terms.  But  to  establish  the  equality  between  you  and 
me  there  are  two  things  that  ought  to  be  done,  and  a  third  may 
also  be  necessary  before  I  meet  you  on  the  field.  First,  you  must 
marry  and  have  four  children  —  all  girls.  Second,  you  must 
prove  that  the  greater  part  of  the  provision  which  you  make 
for  them  depends  upon  your  life,  and  you  must  be  under  bond 
for  four  thousand  pounds  not  to  be  hanged,  commit  suicide,  nor 
be  killed  in  a  duel,  which  are  the  conditions  upon  which  I  have 
insured  my  life  for  the  benefit  of  my  wife  and  daughters.  Third, 


160  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

you  must  convert  me  to  infidelity.    We  can  then  meet  on  equal 
terms,  and  your  challenge  will  be  cheerfully  accepted ." 

Since  the  writing  of  the  letters  of  Junius,  nothing  prob 
ably  has  appeared  equal  in  invective  to  the  correspondence 
seventy  years  ago  between  Daniel  O'Connell  and  Benjamin 
Disraeli.  The  former  was  at  the  time  a  distinguished  mem 
ber  of  Parliament,  and  an  orator  without  a  peer.  Disraeli, 
at  first  a  supporter  of  the  policy  of  the  great  Liberator,  had 
joined  the  ranks  of  his  enemies,  and  was  unsparing  in  his 
denunciation  of  O'Connell  and  his  party.  In  his  reply 
O'Connell,  after  charging  his  assailant  with  ingratitude  and 
treachery,  concluded  as  follows: 

"  I  cannot  divest  my  mind  of  the  belief  that  if  your  genealogy 
were  traced,  it  would  be  found  that  you  are  the  lineal  descendant 
and  true  heir-at-law  of  the  impenitent  thief  who  atoned  for  his 
crimes  upon  the  cross." 

The  challenge  from  Disraeli,  which  immediately  followed, 
was  treated  by  O'Connell  with  supreme  contempt. 

The  duel  between  Hamilton  and  Burr  is  of  perennial 
interest  to  the  American  people.  Both  were  men  of  great 
distinction  and  of  splendid  talents.  Both  had  been  soldiers 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  Hamilton  was  the  confi 
dential  friend  and  for  a  time  chief-of-staff  of  Washington. 
Burr  had  been  a  Senator  from  New  York,  and  was  at  the 
time  of  the  duel  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  He 
was  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  dominant  party, 
and  by  many  considered  the  probable  successor  of  Jefferson 
in  the  great  office.  Whatever  hopes  he  might  have  had  for 
the  Presidency  were  destroyed  by  his  alleged  attempt  to 
defeat  Jefferson  and  secure  his  own  elevation  by  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  1801.  His  hostility  to  Hamilton  had 
its  beginning  in  the  opposition  of  the  latter  to  Burr's  aspira 
tions  to  the  Presidency.  Differing  widely,  as  Hamilton  did, 
with  Jefferson  upon  important  questions  then  pending,  he 
nevertheless  preferred  the  latter  to  Burr,  and  his  influence 
eventually  turned  the  scales  —  after  a  protracted  struggle  — 
in  favor  of  Jefferson. 

The  valuable  service  just  mentioned  was  one  of  the  many 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  161 

rendered  by  Hamilton.  He  was  the  earnest  advocate  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  his  papers  dor- 
ring  that  pivotal  struggle  have  justly  given  him  high  place 
in  the  list  of  American  statesmen.  He  was  the  first  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  and  possibly  no  man  possessed  in  larger 
degree  the  confidence  of  Washington. 

Aaron  Burr  was  the  grandson  of  the  great  New  England 
minister,  Jonathan  Edwards,  whose  only  daughter,  Edith, 
was  the  wife  of  the  Reverend  Aaron  Burr,  an  eminent  Pres 
byterian  clergyman  and  President  of  Princeton  College.  From 
all  that  is  known  of  this  gentleman,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  his  ability  and  piety  were  unquestioned.  Edith,  his 
wife,  was  a  woman  of  rare  gifts  and  one  of  the  loveliest  of 
her  sex.  The  pathetic  reference  to  her  in  the  funeral  ser 
mon  over  Hamilton  will  be  remembered:  "  If  there  be  tears 
in  Heaven,  a  pious  mother  looks  down  upon  this  scene  and 
weeps." 

Hamilton  and  Burr  were  both  citizens  of  New  York,  the 
latter,  of  Albany,  the  former,  of  New  York  City.  At  the 
time  of  the  challenge  Hamilton  held  no  public  office,  but  was 
engaged  in  a  lucrative  practice  of  the  law.  Burr  was  near 
the  expiration  of  his  term  as  Vice-President,  and  was  a  pros 
pective  candidate  for  Governor  of  New  York.  This  candi 
dacy  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  correspondence  which 
resulted  in  the  fatal  encounter.  Four  letters  passed  between 
Burr  and  Hamilton  prior  to  the  formal  challenge.  The  first 
was  from  Burr,  and  bears  date  June  18,  1804.  In  it  at 
tention  is  directed  to  a  published  letter  of  Dr.  Cooper 
containing  the  words,  "  General  Hamilton  and  Judge  Kent 
have  declared  in  substance  that  they  look  upon  Mr.  Burr  to 
be  a  dangerous  man,  and  one  who  ought  not  to  be  trusted 
with  the  reins  of  government.  And  I  could  detail  to  you 
a  still  more  despicable  opinion  which  General  Hamilton  has 
expressed  of  Mr.  Burr." 

It  was  to  the  last  sentence  that  the  attention  of  Hamil 
ton  was  especially  directed  by  Mr.  Van  Ness,  the  bearer  of 
the  letter,  which  closed  with  the  demand  upon  the  part  of 
Burr  of  "  a  prompt  and  unqualified  acknowledgment  or 


162  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

denial,  of  the  use  of  any   expression  which  would  warrant 
the  assertion  of  Dr.  Cooper." 

In  his  reply  the  next  day  Hamilton  said: 

"  I  cannot  reconcile  it  with  propriety  to  make  the  acknowledg 
ment  or  denial  you  desire.  I  will  add  that  I  deem  i.t  inadmissible 
on  principle  to  consent  to  be  interrogated  as  to  the  justness  of 
the  inferences  which  may  be  drawn  by  others,  from  whatever  I 
may  have  said  of  a  political  opponent  in  the  course  of  fifteen 
years'  competition.  I  stand  ready  to  avow,  or  disavow  promptly 
and  explicitly,  any  precise  or  definite  opinion  which  I  may  be 
charged  with  having  declared  of  any  gentleman.  More  than 
this  cannot  be  fitly  expected  from  me;  and  especially  it  cannot 
be  reasonably  expected  that  I  shall  enter  into  an  explanation 
upon  a  basis  so  vague  as  that  which  you  have  adopted.  I  trust 
on  more  reflection,  you  will  see  the  matter  in  the  same  light  with 
me.  If  not,  I  can  only  regret  the  circumstance,  and  must  abide 
the  consequences." 

The  immediate  response  of  Burr  to  the  above,  after  re 
peating  his  former  demand,  contained  the  following: 

"Political  opposition  can  never  absolve  gentlemen  from  the 
necessity  of  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  laws  of  honor  and  the  rules 
of  decorum.  I  neither  claim  such  privilege,  nor  indulge  it  in 
others." 

Hamilton's  reply  being  unsatisfactory,  the  formal  chal 
lenge  of  Burr  was  soon  thereafter  handed  to  him  by  W.  P. 
Van  Ness.  The  last  named  was  the  second  of  Burr,  and 
Nathaniel  Pendleton  was  the  friend  of  Hamilton. 

Some  days  elapsed  after  the  formal  acceptance  of  the 
challenge  before  the  fatal  meeting.  That  Hamilton  was 
anxious  to  avoid  the  conflict,  clearly  appears  from  a  perusal 
of  the  many  publications  that  immediately  followed.  A  paper 
he  prepared  explanatory  in  character,  the  second  of  Burr 
declined  to  receive,  on  the  ground  that  he  considered  the 
correspondence  closed  by  the  acceptance  of  the  challenge. 

It  touches  our  sympathies  deeply  even  after  the  lapse 
of  a  century  to  read  the  letter  written  by  Hamilton  to  his 
wife  to  be  delivered  in  the  event  of  his  death,  in  which  he 
states  that  he  has  endeavored  by  all  honorable  means  to 
avoid  the  duel  which  probably  he  would  not  survive.  He 
begs  her  forgiveness  for  the  pain  his  death  would  cause  her, 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  163 

and  entreats  her  to  bear  her  sorrows  as  one  who  has  placed 
a  firm  reliance  on  a  kind  Providence. 

A  few  days  before  his  death,  he  and  Burr  were  guests  at 
a  dinner  given  by  the  Cincinnati  Society,  of  which  both  were 
members.  Few  persons  were  aware  of  what  was  pending,  but 
it  was  observed  that  Hamilton  "  entered  with  glee  into  all  the 
gayety  of  a  convivial  party,  and  even  sang  an  old  military 
song."  Burr,  upon  the  contrary,  was  "  silent,  gloomy,  and 
remained  apart." 

In  his  will,  written  July  9,  Hamilton  expressed  deep  regret 
that  his  death  will  prevent  the  full  payment  of  his  debts. 
He  expresses  the  hope  that  his  children  will,  in  time,  make 
up  to  his  creditors  all  that  may  be  due  them.  After  tenderly 
committing  to  his  children  the  care  of  their  mother,  he  says, 
"in  all  situations  you  are  charged  to  bear  hi  mind,  that 
she  has  been  to  you  the  most  devoted  and  best  of  mothers." 

The  last  paper  that  came  from  his  pen  was  evidently 
intended  as  his  vindication  to  posterity,  his  appeal  to  time. 
In  this  he  says: 

"  I  was  certainly  desirous  of  avoiding  this  interview,  for  the 
most  cogent  reasons.  My  religious  and  moral  principles  are 
strongly  opposed  to  duelling,  and  it  would  give  me  pain  to  be 
obliged  to  shed  the  blood  of  a  fellow-creature  in  a  private  combat 
forbidden  by  the  lawa.  My  wife  and  children  are  extremely 
dear  to  me,  and  my  life  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  them.  I 
am  conscious  of  no  ill-will  to  Colonel  Burr  distinct  from  political 
opposition,  which  I  trust  has  proceeded  from  pure  and  upright 
motives.  Lastly,  I  shall  hazard  much  and  shall  possibly  gain 
nothing  by  the  issue  of  the  interview.  But  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  avoid  it." 

He  candidly  admits  that  his  criticisms  of  Colonel  Burr  have 
been  severe.  He  says: 

"And  on  different  occasions,  I  —  in  common  with  many 
others  —  have  made  very  unfavorable  criticisms  of  the  private 
character  of  this  gentleman.  It  is  not  my  design  to  fix  any 
odium  on  the  conduct  of  Colonel  Burr  in  this  case.  He  may  have 
supposed  himself  under  the  necessity  of  acting  as  he  has  done.  I 
hope  the  grounds  of  his  proceeding  have  been  such  as  to  satisfy 
his  own  conscience.  I  trust,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  world 
will  do  me  the  justice  to  believe  that  I  have  not  censured  him  on 
light  grounds,  nor  from  unworthy  inducements." 


164  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

How  strangely  in  the  light  of  history  sounds  the  follow 
ing:  "It  is  my  ardent  wish  that  he,  by  his  future  conduct, 
may  show  himself  worthy  of  all  confidence  and  esteem,  and 
prove  an  ornament  and  blessing  to  the  country." 

That  some  lingering  apprehension  existed  in  the  mind 
of  General  Hamilton  that  his  criticisms  of  Colonel  Burr 
might  not  have  been  altogether  generous,  appears  from  the 
following: 

"As  well  because  it  is  possible  that  I  may  have  injured 
Colonel  Burr,  however  convinced  myself  that  my  opinions  and 
declarations  have  been  well-founded,  as  from  my  general  prin 
ciples  and  temper  in  relation  to  similar  affairs,  I  have  resolved, 
if  our  interview  is  conducted  in  the  usual  manner,  and  it  please 
God  to  give  me  the  opportunity,  to  reserve  and  throw  away  my 
first  fire;  and  I  have  thought  even  of  reserving  my  second  fire, 
and  thus  giving  to  Colonel  Burr  a  double  opportunity  to  pause 
and  to  reflect." 

And  then,  before  laying  down  his  pen  for  the  last  time,  he 
struck  the  keynote  to  the  conduct  of  many  brave  men  who, 
like  himself,  reluctantly  accepted  a  call  to  "the  field  of  honor." 
These  are  his  closing  words: 

"  To  those  who  with  me,  abhorring  the  practice  of  duelling, 
may  think  that  I  ought  under  no  account  to  have  added  to  the 
number  of  bad  examples,  I  answer,  that  my  relative  situation 
as  well  in  public  as  in  private  enforcing  all  the  considerations 
which  constitute  what  men  of  the  world  denominate  honor 
imposed  on  me  a  peculiar  necessity  not  to  decline  the  call.  The 
ability  to  be  in  future  useful,  whether  in  arresting  mischief  or 
effecting  good  in  this  crisis  of  our  public  affairs  which  seemed 
likely  to  happen,  would  probably  be  inseparable  from  a  conform 
ity  with  public  prejudice  in  this  particular." 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  July  11,  1804,  at 
Weehawken,  New  Jersey,  the  fatal  meeting  took  place.  After 
the  usual  formal  salutation,  the  parties  were  placed  in  posi 
tion  by  their  seconds,  ten  paces  apart,  the  pistols  placed  in 
their  hands,  and  the  word  being  given  them  both  fired.  Gen 
eral  Hamilton  instantly  fell.  The  statement  subsequently 
given  out  by  the  seconds  is  as  follows: 

"  Colonel  Burr  then  advanced  toward  General  Hamilton  with 
a  manner  and  gesture  that  appeared  to  be  expressive  of  regret, 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  165 

but  without  speaking  turned  about  and  withdrew,  being  urged 
from  the  field  by  his  friends.  No  further  communication  took 
place  between  the  principals,  and  the  barge  that  carried  Colonel 
Burr  immediately  returned  to  the  city.  We  conceive  it  proper 
to  add  that  the  conduct  of  the  parties  in  this  interview  was 
perfectly  proper  as  suited  the  occasion." 

The  surgeon  in  attendance  states  that  after  Hamilton  was 
borne  to  the  barge  he  observed,  "Pendleton  knows  that  I 
did  not  intend  to  fire  at  him."  As  they  approached  the  shore 
he  said,  "Let  Mrs.  Hamilton  be  immediately  sent  for;  let 
the  event  be  gradually  broken  to  her,  but  give  her  hopes." 
His  physician  adds: 

"During  the  night  his  mind  retained  its  usual  strength  and 
composure.  The  great  source  of  his  anxiety  seemed  to  be  in  his 
sympathy  with  his  half -distracted  wife  and  children.  '  My  beloved 
wife  and  children'  was  his  often  used  expression,  but  his  forti 
tude  triumphed  over  his  situation,  dreadful  as  it  was.  Once, 
indeed,  at  the  sight  of  his  children,  seven  in  number,  brought 
to  his  bedside  together,  his  utterance  forsook  him.  To  his  wife 
he  said  in  a  firm  voice  but  with  pathetic  and  impressive  manner, 
'  Remember,  my  Eliza,  that  you  are  a  Christian.'  His  words  and 
the  tone  in  which  they  were  uttered,  will  never  be  effaced  from 
my  memory." 

After  indescribable  agony,  death  came  at  two  o'clock  of 
the  day  succeeding  the  duel.  Thus,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven, 
perished  Alexander  Hamilton^  a  great  man  in  any  country  or 
time.  Cities  and  counties  bear  his  name  in  almost  every 
American  State.  The  story  of  his  wondrous  life  and  tragic 
death  will  never  lose  its  pathetic  interest.  His  unswerving 
devotion  to  the  country  of  his  adoption,  his  untiring  efforts 
in  the  establishment  of  the  national  Government,  and  his 
friendship  for  Washington,  which  knew  no  abatement,  have 
given  Hamilton  honored  and  enduring  place  in  American 
history. 

As  to  Burr,  the  proverb  found  instant  verification  that 
"in  duels  the  victor  is  always  the  victim."  Had  he,  instead 
of  Hamilton,  fallen  on  that  ill-fated  July  morning,  how 
changed  their  possible  places  in  history.  A  halo  has  gathered 
about  the  name  of  Hamilton.  Monuments  have  been  erected 


166  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

to  his  memory,  his  statue  has  been  given  high  place  in  the 
Capitol.  The  hour  of  his  fall  was  that  of  his  exaltation. 

The  self-same  hour  witnessed  the  ruin  of  his  antagonist. 
From  the  fatal  field,  unharmed  in  body,  he  turned  away, 
henceforth  to  be  followed  by  the  execrations  of  his  country 
men.  Past  services  were  forgotten,  brilliant  talents  availed 
nothing.  His  desperate  attempt  to  found  a  rival  govern 
ment  by  the  partial  dismemberment  of  the  one  he  had  helped 
to  establish  was  thwarted,  and  after  years  of  poverty  and  mis 
fortune  abroad,  he  returned  to  die  in  neglect  and  obscurity 
in  his  own  country.  As  was  truly  said:  "He  was  the  last 
of  his  race;  there  was  no  kindred  hand  to  smooth  his  couch, 
or  wipe  the  death-damp  from  his  brow.  No  banners  drooped 
over  his  bier;  no  melancholy  music  floated  upon  the  reluc 
tant  air." 

The  Hon.  Hamilton  Spencer,  one  of  the  ablest  of  lawyers, 
gave  me  an  interesting  account  of  an  interview  he  had  with 
Colonel  Burr  in  Albany  not  long  before  his  death.  Noth- 
withstanding  his  advanced  age,  broken  health,  and  ruined 
fortunes,  he  deeply  impressed  Mr.  Spencer  as  a  gentleman 
of  most  courteous  manners,  dignified  bearing,  and  command 
ing  presence  such  as  he  had  rarely  seen. 

The  one  object  of  his  love  was  his  daughter,  the  beautiful 
Theodosia.  Her  devotion  to  her  father  increased  with  his 
accumulating  misfortunes.  The  ship  in  which  she  sailed  from 
her  home  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  to  meet  him  in  New 
York,  never  reached  its  destination.  In  all  history,  there 
are  few  pictures  more  pathetic  than  that  of  the  gray-haired, 
friendless  man,  with  faded  cloak  drawn  closely  about  him, 
day  after  day  wandering  alone  by  the  seaside,  anxiously 
awaiting  the  coming  of  the  one  being  who  loved  him,  the 
idolized  daughter  whose  requiem  was  even  then  being  chanted 
by  the  waves. 

One  of  the  men  I  occasionally  met  in  Washington  was 
Joseph  C.  McKibben,  a  former  representative  in  Congress 
from  the  Pacific  coast.  He  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
history  of  California  from  its  cession  to  the  United  States  at 
the  close  of  the  Mexican  War.  He  had  been  an  active  par- 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  167 

ticipant  in  many  of  the  stirring  events  occurring  soon  after 
the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union. 

"Men,except  in  bad  novels,  are  not  all  good,  or  all  evil." 

Colonel  McKibben  was  the  second  of  David  C.  Broderick 
in  his  duel  with  Judge  Terry.  At  the  time  of  the  duel,  Brod 
erick  was  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  Terry  the  Chief 
Justice  of  California.  The  challenge  given  by  Terry  was 
promptly  accepted.  As  will  be  remembered,  in  the  encounter 
which  immediately  followed,  Terry  escaped  unhurt  and  Brod 
erick  was  killed. 

I  recall  vividly  the  description  given  me  of  the  meeting 
between  these  men  in  that  early  Spring  morning  in  1859. 
Both  possessed  unquestioned  courage.  Their  demeanor  upon 
the  field,  as  in  deadly  attitude  they  confronted  each  other  a 
few  paces  apart,  was  that  of  absolute  fearlessness.  "Each 
had  set  his  life  upon  a  cast,  and  was  ready  to  stand  the  hazard 
of  the  die." 

Rarely  have  truer  words  been  uttered  than  those  of  the 
gifted  Baker  over  the  dead  body  of  Broderick: 

"The  code  of  honor  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare;  it  palters  with 
the  hope  of  true  courage,  and  binds  it  at  the  feet  of  crafty  and 
cruel  skill.  It  surrounds  its  victim  with  the  pomp  and  grace  of 
the  procession,  but  leaves  him  bleeding  on  the  altar.  It  substi 
tutes  cold  and  deliberate  preparations  for  courage  and  manly 
impulse,  and  arms  the  one  to  disarm  the  other.  It  makes  the  mere 
trick  of  the  weapon  superior  to  the  noblest  cause  and  the  truest 
courage.  Its  pretence  of  equality  is  a  lie;  it  is  equal  in  all  the 
form,  it  is  unjust  in  all  the  substance.  The  habitude  of  arms, 
the  early  training,  the  frontier  life,  the  border  war,  the  sectional 
custom,  the  life  of  leisure,  all  these  are  advantages  which  no 
negotiations  can  neutralize,  and  which  no  courage  can  over 
come.  Code  of  honor!  It  is  a  prostitution  of  the  name,  is 
an  evasion  of  the  substance,  and  is  a  shield  blazoned  with  the 
name  of  chivalry  to  cover  the  malignity  of  murder." 

The  tragic  ending  of  the  eventful  career  of  Judge  Terry, 
which  occurred  within  the  last  decade,  will  be  readily  re 
called.  Immediately  following  his  assault  upon  Justice  Field 
at  the  railway  station  in  Lathrop,  California,  he  was  slain  by 


168  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

a  deputy  United  States  marshal.  The  wife  of  Terry  was 
at  his  side,  and  the  scene  that  followed  beggars  descrip 
tion. 

The  name  of  Terry  at  once  recalls  the  "Vigilance  Commit 
tee"  of  early  San  Francisco  days.  The  committee  was  com 
posed  largely  of  leading  men  of  the  "law-and-order"  element 
of  the  city.  Robberies  and  murders  were  of  nightly  occur 
rence,  and  gamblers  and  criminals  in  many  instances  were 
the  incumbents  of  the  public  offices.  The  organization  men 
tioned  became  an  imperative  necessity  for  the  protection  of 
life  and  property.  The  work  of  the  committee  constitutes  one 
of  the  bloodiest  chapters  of  early  Californian  history. 

Nearly  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  Colonel  Thornton,  a 
prominent  lawyer  of  San  Francisco,  related  to  me  an  inci 
dent  which  he  had  witnessed  during  the  time  the  famous 
Vigilance  Committee  was  in  complete  control.  A  young  law 
yer,  recently  located  in  San  Francisco,  was  arrested  for  stab 
bing  a  well-known  citizen  who  was  at  the  time  one  of  the  most 
active  members  of  the  Vigilance  Committee.  The  name  of 
the  lawyer  was  David  S.  Terry,  at  a  later  day  Chief  Justice 
of  the  State.  The  dread  tribunal  was  presided  over  by  one 
of  the  most  courageous  and  best  known  citizens  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  At  a  later  day,  his  name  was  presented  by  his  State 
to  the  National  Convention  of  his  party  for  nomination  for 
the  Vice-Presidency. 

When  brought  before  the  Vigilance  Committee,  the  de 
meanor  of  Terry  was  that  of  absolute  fearlessness.  Stand 
ing  erect  and  perfectly  self-possessed,  he  listened  to  the  om 
inous  words  of  the  president:  "Mr.  Terry,  you  are  charged 
with  attempted  murder;  what  have  you  to  say?  "  Advanc 
ing  a  step  nearer  the  committee  "organized  to  convict," 
and  in  a  tone  that  at  once  challenged  the  respect  of  all,  Terry 
replied,  "If  your  Honor  please,  I  recognize  the  jurisdiction 
of  this  court,  and  am  ready  for  trial."  He  then  clearly  es 
tablished  the  fact  that  his  assault  was  in  self-defence,  and 
after  a  masterly  speech,  delivered  with  as  much  self-posses 
sion  as  if  a  life  other  than  his  own  trembled  in  the  balance, 
was  duly  acquitted. 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  169 

Another  Californian  with  whom  I  was  personally  ac 
quainted,  was  William  M.  Gwin.  He  had  long  passed  the 
allotted  three  score  and  ten  when  I  first  met  him  at  the  home 
of  the  late  Senator  Sharon.  Few  men  have  known  so  event 
ful  a  career.  He  had  been  the  private  secretary  of  Andrew 
Jackson.  He  knew  well  the  public  men  of  that  day,  and  re 
lated  many  interesting  incidents  of  the  stormy  period  of  the 
latter  years  of  Jackson's  Presidency.  In  his  early  manhood 
Gwin  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  Alabama.  At  the 
close  of  the  Mexican  War  he  removed  to  California,  and  upon 
the  admission  of  that  State  he  and  John  C.  Fremont  were 
chosen  its  first  Senators  in  Congress. 

During  a  ride  with  him,  he  pointed  out  to  me  the  spot 
where  he  had  fought  a  duel  in  early  California  days.  He  was 
then  a  Senator,  and  his  antagonist  the  Hon..  J.  W.  McCorkle, 
a  member  of  Congress.  A  card  signed  by  their  respective 
seconds  appeared  the  day  following,  to  the  effect  that  after 
the  exchange  of  three  ineffectual  shots  between  the  Hon. 
William  M.  Gwin  and  the  Hon.  J.  W.  McCorkle,  the  friends 
of  the  respective  parties,  having  discovered  that  their  prin 
cipals  were  fighting  under  a  misapprehension  of  fads,  mu 
tually  explained  to  their  respective  principals  how  the  mis 
apprehension  had  arisen.  As  a  result,  Senator  Gwin  promptly 
denied  the  cause  of  provocation  and  Mr.  McCorkle  withdrew 
his  offensive  language  uttered  at  the  race-course,  and  ex 
pressed  regret  at  having  used  it. 

To  a  layman  in  these  "  piping  times  of  peace"  it  would 
appear  the  more  reasonable  course  to  have  avoided  "  a  mis 
apprehension  of  facts  "  before  even  three  ineffectual  shots. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  great  civil  conflict,  the  fortunes 
of  Senator  Gwin  were  cast  with  the  South,  and  at  its  close  he 
became  a  citizen  of  Mexico.  Maximilian  was  then  Emperor, 
and  one  of  his  last  official  acts  was  the  creation  of  a  Mexican 
Duke  out  of  the  sometime  American  Senator.  The  glittering 
empire  set  up  by  Napoleon  the  Third  and  upheld  for  a  time 
by  French  bayonets,  was  even  then,  however,  tottering  to 
its  fall. 

When  receiving  the  Ducal  coronet  from  the  Imperial  hand 


170  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  self-expatriated  American  statesman  might  well  have 
inquired, 

"  But  shall  we  wear  these  glories  for  a  day, 
Or  shall  they  last,  and  we  rejoice  in  them?" 

A  few  months  later,  at  the  behest  of  our  Government,  the 
French  arms  were  withdrawn,  the  bubble  of  Mexican  Empire 
vanished,  and  the  ill-fated  Maximilian  had  bravely  met  his 
tragic  end.  Thenceforth,  a  resident  but  no  longer  a  citizen 
of  the  land  that  had  given  him  birth,  William  M.  Gwin,  to 
the  end  of  his  life,  bore  the  high  sounding  but  empty  title 
of  "Duke  of  Sonora." 

Frequent  as  have  been  the  instances  in  our  own  country 
where  death  has  resulted  from  duelling,  it  is  believed  that 
in  but  one  has  the  survivor  incurred  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law.  That  one  case  occurred  in  1820  in  Illinois.  What 
was  intended  merely  as  a  "mock  duel"  by  their  respective 
friends,  was  fought  with  rifles  by  William  Bennett  and  Al- 
phonso  Stewart  in  Belleville.  It  was  privately  agreed  by 
the  seconds  of  each  that  the  rifles  should  be  loaded  with  blank 
cartridges.  This  arrangement  was  faithfully  carried  out 
so  far  as  the  seconds  were  concerned;  but  Bennett,  the  chal 
lenging  party,  managed  to  get  a  bullet  into  his  own  gun.  The 
result  was  the  immediate  death  of  Stewart,  and  the  flight  of 
his  antagonist.  Upon  his  return  to  Belleville  a  year  or  two 
later,  Bennett  was  immediately  arrested,  placed  upon  trial, 
convicted,  and  executed. 

In  more  than  one  instance,  at  a  later  day,  while  well-known 
Illinoisans  have  been  parties  to  actual  or  prospective  duels, 
no  instance  has  occurred  of  a  hostile  meeting  of  that  charac 
ter  within  the  limits  of  the  State.  A  late  auditor  of  public 
accounts,  but  recently  deceased,  killed  his  antagonist  in  a 
duel  with  rifles  nearly  half  a  century  ago  in  California. 

William  I.  Ferguson,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  orators  Illi 
nois  has  known,  in  early  professional  life  the  associate  of  men 
who  have  since  achieved  national  distinction,  fell  in  a  duel 
while  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  hi  California. 

During  the  sitting  of  the  Illinois  Constitutional  Conven 
tion  of  1847,  two  of  its  prominent  members,  Campbell  and 


WILLIAM  M.  GWIN 


JAMES   SHIELDS 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  171 

Pratt,  delegates  from  the  northern  tier  of  counties,  became 
involved  in  a  bitter  personal  controversy  which  resulted  in 
a  challenge  by  Pratt  to  mortal  combat.  The  challenge  was 
accepted  and  the  principals  with  their  seconds  repaired  to  the 
famous  "  Bloody  Island  "  in  the  Mississippi,  when  by  the  in 
terposition  of  friends  a  peaceable  settlement  was  effected. 
The  sequel  to  this  happily  averted  duel  was  the  incorpo 
ration  in  the  Constitution,  then  in  process  of  formulation,  of 
a  provision  prohibiting  duelling  in  the  State,  and  attaching 
severe  penalties  to  sending  or  accepting  a  challenge. 

The  earliest  hostile  meeting  of  Illinoisans  was  upon  the 
island  last  mentioned  before  State  organization  had  been 
effected.  The  principals  were  young  men  of  well-known 
courage  and  ability  —  one  of  whom,  Shadrack  Bond,  upon 
the  admission  of  Illinois  was  elected  its  Governor.  His  ad 
versary,  John  Rice  Jones,  was  the  first  lawyer  to  locate  in  the 
Illinois  country,  and  was  the  brother  of  the  second  of  the 
unfortunate  Cilley  in  the  tragic  encounter  already  related. 
The  late  Governor  Bissell  of  Illinois  was  once  challenged  by 
Jefferson  Davis.  Both  were  at  the  time  members  of  Con 
gress,  and  the  casus  belli  was  language  reflecting  upon  the 
conduct  of  some  of  the  participants  in  the  then  recently  fought 
battle  of  Buena  Vista.  After  the  acceptance  of  the  challenge, 
mutual  friends  of  Davis  and  Bissell  effected  a  reconciliation, 
just  before  the  hour  set  for  the  hostile  meeting. 

So  far  as  Illinois  combatants  are  concerned,  the  historic 
island  mentioned  above  has  little  claim  to  its  bloody  desig 
nation,  inasmuch  as  the  " affairs"  mentioned,  and  one  much 
more  famous,  yet  to  be  noted,  were  all  honorably  adjusted 
without  physical  harm  to  any  of  the  participants. 

The  "  affair  of  honor,"  the  mention  of  which  will  close 
this  chapter,  owes  its  chief  importance  to  the  prominence 
attained  at  a  later  day  by  its  principals.  The  challenger, 
James  Shields,  was  at  the  timB,  1842,  a  State  officer  of  Illinois, 
and  later  a  general  in  two  wars  and  a  Senator  from  three 
States.  The  name  of  his  adversary  has  since  "  been  given  to 
the  ages."  Mr.  Lincoln  was,  at  the  time  he  accepted  Mr. 
Shields' s  challenge,  a  young  lawyer,  unmarried,  residing  at  the 


ITS          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

State  capital.  He  was  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Whig 
party,  and  an  active  participant  in  the  fierce  political  con 
flicts  of  the  day.  Some  criticism  in  which  he  had  indulged, 
touching  the  administration  of  the  office  of  which  Shields  was 
the  incumbent,  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  challenge. 

That  Mr.  Lincoln  was  upon  principle  opposed  to  duelling 
would  be  readily  inferred  from  his  characteristic  kindness. 
That  "  we  are  time's  subjects,"  however,  and  that  the  public 
opinion  of  sixty-odd  years  ago  is  not  that  of  to-day,  will 
readily  appear  from  the  published  statement  of  his  friend 
Dr.  Merryman: 

"  I  told  Mr.  Lincoln  what  was  brewing,  and  asked  him  what 
course  he  proposed  to  himself.  He  said  that  he  was  wholly 
opposed  to  duelling  and  would  do  anything  to  avoid  it  that 
might  not  degrade  him  in  the  estimation  of  himself  and  friends; 
but  if  such  a  degradation,  or  a  fight,  were  the  only  alternatives, 
he  would  fight." 

It  is  stated  by  one  of  the  biographers  of  Mr.  Lincoln  that 
he  was  ever  after  averse  to  any  allusion  to  the  Shields  affair. 
From  the  terms  of  his  acceptance,  it  is  evident  that  he  in 
tended  neither  to  injure  his  adversary  seriously  nor  to  receive 
injury  at  his  hands.  In  his  lengthy  letter  of  instruction  to 
his  second,  he  closed  by  saying: 

"  If  nothing  like  this  is  done,  the  preliminaries  of  the  fight 
are  to  be,  first,  weapons:  cavalry  broadswords  of  the  largest 
size,  precisely  equal  in  all  respects.  Second,  position:  a  plank 
ten  feet  long  and  from  nine  to  twelve  inches  broad,  to  be  firmly 
fixed  on  edge  on  the  ground  as  the  line  between  us  which  neither 
is  to  pass  his  foot  over  upon  forfeit  of  his  life.  Next,  a  line 
drawn  on  the  ground  on  either  side  of  said  plank  and  parallel 
with  it,  each  at  the  distance  of  the  whole  length  of  the  sword  and 
three  feet  additional  from  the  plank;  the  passing  of  his  own  line 
by  either  party  during  the  fight  shall  be  deemed  a  surrender 
of  the  contest.  Third,  time :  on  Thursday  evening  at  five  o'clock 
within  three  miles  of  Alton  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  the 
particular  spot  to  be  agreed  on  by  you.  Any  preliminary  details 
coming  within  the  above  rules  you  are  at  liberty  to  make  at 
your  discretion,  but  you  are  in  no  case  to  swerve  from  these  rules 
or  to  pass  beyond  their  limits." 

The  keen  sense  of  the  humorous,  with  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  so  abundantly  gifted,  seems  not  to  have  wholly  deserted 


THE  CODE  OF  HONOR  178 

him  even  in  the  serious  moments  when  penning  an  acceptance 
to  mortal  combat.  The  terms  of  meeting  indicated  —  which 
he  as  the  challenged  party  had  the  right  to  dictate  —  lend 
color  to  the  opinion  that  he  regarded  the  affair  in  the  light 
of  a  mere  farce.  His  superior  height  and  length  of  arm  re 
membered,  and  the  position  of  the  less  favored  Shields, 
with  broadsword  in  hand,  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  board, 
and  not  permitted  "upon  forfeit  of  his  life"  to  advance  an 
inch  —  the  picture  is  indeed  a  ludicrous  one. 

Out  of  the  lengthy  statements  of  the  respective  seconds  — 
the  publication  of  which  came  near  involving  themselves 
in  personal  altercation  —  it  appears  that  all  parties  actually 
reached  the  appointed  rendezvous  on  time. 

But  it  was  not  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that  this  duel 
was  to  take  place.  Something  of  mightier  moment  was  await 
ing  one  of  the  actors  in  this  drama.  Two  level-headed  men, 
R.  W.  English  and  John  J.  Hardin,  the  friends  respectively  of 
Shields  and  Lincoln,  crossing  the  Mississippi  in  a  canoe  close 
in  the  wake  of  the  belligerents,  reached  the  field  just  before 
the  appointed  hour.  These  gentlemen,  acting  in  concert  with 
the  seconds,  Whiteside  and  Merryman,  soon  effected  a  rec 
onciliation  deemed  honorable  to  all,  and  the  Shields-Lincoln 
duel  passed  to  the  domain  of  history.  That  the  reconcilia 
tion  thus  brought  about  was  sincere  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  one  of  the  earliest  acts  of  President  Lincoln  was 
the  appointment  of  General  Shields  to  an  important  military 
command. 

How  strangely  "the  whirligig  of  time  brings  in  his  re 
venges"!  A  few  paces  apart  in  the  old  Hall  at  the  Capitol 
at  Washington,  stand  two  statues,  the  contribution  of  Illi 
nois  for  enduring  place  in  the  "  Temple  of  the  Immortals." 
One  is  the  statue  of  Lincoln,  the  other  that  of  Shields. 


XI 
A   PRINCELY   GIFT 

DESCENT  OF  JAMES  SMITHSON,  FOUNDER  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN 
INSTITUTION  —  HIS  EDUCATION  AND  HIS  WRITINGS  —  HIS 
WILL  —  THE  UNITED  STATES  HIS  RESIDUARY  LEGATEE  — 
SUCCESSFUL  PROSECUTION  OF  THE  CLAIM  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  TO  THE  LEGACY  —  PLANS  SUGGESTED  FOR  THE  DIS 
POSAL  OF  THE  FUND  —  PROF.  JOSEPH  HENRY  APPOINTED 
SECRETARY  —  BENEFICENT  WORK  OF  THE  INSTITUTION. 

ALTHOUGH  a  third  of  a  century  has  passed  since  I  met 
Professor  Joseph  Henry,  I  distinctly  recall  his  kindly 
greeting  and  the  courteous  manner  in  which  he  gave 
me  the  information  I  requested  for  the  use  of  one  of  the 
Committees  of  the  House. 

The  frosts  of  many  winters  were  then  on  his  brow,  and 
he  was  near  the  close  of  an  honorable  career,  one  of  measure 
less  benefit  to  mankind.  He  was  the  first  secretary  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  and  the  originator  of  the  plan  by 
which  was  carried  into  practical  effect  the  splendid  bequest 
for  "the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men." 

As  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  a  regent  ex-officio 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  I  had  rare  opportunity 
to  learn  much  of  its  history  and  something  of  its  marvellous 
accomplishment.  As  is  well  known,  it  bears  the  name  of 
James  Smithson.  He  was  an  Englishman,  related  to  the  his 
toric  family  of  Percy,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  Henry  the 
Seventh,  his  maternal  ancestor  being  the  ill-fated  Lady  Jane 
Grey,  cousin  to  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Mr.  Langley ,  the  late  secretary  of  the  institution,  said : 

"  Smithson  always  seems  to  have  regarded  the  circumstances 
of  his  birth  as  doing  him  a  peculiar  injustice,  and  it  was  appar 
ently  this  sense  that  he  had  been  deprived  of  honors  properly  his 
which  made  him  look  for  other  sources  of  fame  than  those  which 
birth  had  denied  him,  and  constituted  the  motive  of  the  most 
important  action  of  his  life,  the  creation  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution." 

174 


JAMES  SMITHSON 


JOSEPH  HENRY 


A  PRINCELY  GIFT  175 

The  deep  resentment  of  Smithson  against  the  great  families 
who  had  virtually  disowned  him,  finds  vent  in  a  letter  yet 
extant,  of  which  the  following  is  a  part:  "  The  best  blood  of 
England  flows  in  my  veins;  on  my  father's  side  I  am  a  North 
umberland,  on  my  mother's  I  am  related  to  kings;  but  this 
avails  me  not.  My  name  shall  live  in  the  memory  of  man 
when  the  titles  of  the  Northumberlands  and  the  Percys  are 
extinct  and  forgotten." 

How  truly  his  indignant  forecast  was  prophetic  is  now  a 
matter  of  history.  Few  men  know  much  about  the  once 
proud  families  of  Northumberland  or  Percy,  but  the  name 
of  the  youth  they  scornfully  disowned  lives  in  the  institution 
he  founded,  the  greatest  instrumentality  yet  devised  for  "the 
increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men." 

Smithson  was  born  in  1765,  and  received  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  from  Pembroke  College  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one.  A  year  later  he  was  admitted  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  upon  the  recommendation  of  his  instructors,  as 
being  "a  gentleman  well  versed  in  the  various  branches  of 
Natural  Philosophy,  and  particularly  in  Chemistry  and 
Mineralogy."  As  a  student,  he  was  devoted  to  the  study  of 
the  sciences,  especially  chemistry,  and  his  entire  life,  in  fact, 
was  given  to  scientific  research.  Twenty-seven  papers  from 
his  pen  were  published  in  "The  Philosophical  Transactions  of 
the  Royal  Society"  and  in  "Thompson's  Annals  of  Philos 
ophy,"  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  "all  give  evidence  that  he  was 
an  assiduous  and  faithful  experimenter." 

In  this  connection,  the  statement  of  Professor  Clarke, 
Chief  Chemist  of  the  United  States  Geographical  Survey,  is 
in  point: 

"The  most  notable  feature  of  Smithson's  writings  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  analytical  chemist,  is  the  success  obtained  with 
the  most  primitive  and  unsatisfactory  appliances.  In  Smithson's 
day,  chemical  apparatus  was  undeveloped,  and  instruments  were 
improvised  from  such  materials  as  lay  readiest  to  hand.  With 
such  instruments,  and  with  crude  reagents,  Smithson  obtained 
analytical  results  of  the  most  creditable  character,  and  enlarged 
our  knowledge  of  many  mineral  species.  In  his  time,  the  native 


170          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

carbonate  and  the  silicate  of  zinc  were  confounded  as  one  species 
under  the  name  calamine;  but  his  researches  distinguished 
between  the  two  minerals,  which  are  now  known  as  Smithsonite 
and  Calamine,  respectively. 

"To  theory  Smithson  contributed  little,  if  anything;  but 
from  a  theoretical  point  of  view,  the  tone  of  his  writings  is  singu 
larly  modern.  His  work  was  mostly  done  before  Dalton  had 
announced  the  atomic  theory;  and  yet  Smithson  saw  clearly 
that  a  law  of  definite  proportions  must  exist,  although  he  did 
not  attempt  to  account  for  it.  His  ability  as  a  reasoner  is  best 
shown  in  his  paper  on  the  Kirkdale  Bone  Cave,  which  Penn  had 
sought  to  interpret  by  reference  to  the  Noachian  Deluge.  A 
clearer  and  more  complete  demolition  of  Penn's  views  could 
hardly  be  written  to-day.  Smithson  was  gentle  with  his  adver 
sary,  but  none  the  less  thorough,  for  all  his  moderation.  He  is 
not  to  be  classed  among  the  leaders  of  scientific  thought;  but  his 
ability  and  the  usefulness  of  his  contributions  to  knowledge,  can 
not  be  doubted." 

The  life  of  Smithson  was  uncheered  by  domestic  affection; 
he  was  of  singularly  retiring  disposition,  had  no  intimacies, 
spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  Paris,  and  was  long  the 
uncomplaining  victim  of  a  painful  malady.  Professor  Lang- 
ley  said  of  him: 

"One  gathers  from  his  letters,  from  the  uniform  considera 
tion  with  which  he  speaks  of  others,  from  kind  traits  which  he 
showed,  and  from  the  general  tenor  of  what  is  not  here  particularly 
cited,  the  remembrance  of  an  innately  gentle  nature,  but  also  of 
a  man  who  is  gradually  renouncing  not  without  bitterness  the 
youthful  hope  of  fame,  and  as  health  and  hope  diminished  to 
gether,  is  finally  living  for  the  day,  rather  than  for  any  future." 

He  died  in  Genoa,  Italy,  June  27,  1829,  and  was  buried 
in  the  little  English  cemetery  on  the  heights  of  San  Benigno. 
The  Institution  he  founded  has  placed  a  tablet  over  his  tomb 
and  surrounded  it  with  evidences  of  continued  and  thoughtful 
care. 

His  will  —  possibly  of  deeper  concern  to  mankind  than 
any  yet  written  —  bears  date  October  23,  1826.  In  its  open 
ing  clause  he  designates  himself:  "Son  of  Hugh,  First  Duke 
of  Northumberland,  and  Elizabeth,  heiress  of  the  Hunger- 
fords  of  Studley,  and  niece  to  Charles  the  proud  Duke  of 
Somerset."  Herein  clearly  appears  his  undying  resentment 


A  PRINCELY  GIFT  177 

toward  those  who  had  denied  him  the  position  in  life  to  which 
he  considered  himself  justly  entitled. 

The  only  persons  designated  in  his  will  as  legatees  are  a 
faithful  servant,  for  whom  abundant  provision  was  made, 
and  Henry  James  Hungerford,  nephew  of  the  testator.  To 
the  latter  was  devised  the  entire  estate  except  the  legacy  to 
the  servant  mentioned.  The  clause  of  the  will  which  has 
given  the  name  of  Smithson  to  the  ages  seems  to  have  been 
almost  casually  inserted;  it  appears  between  the  provision 
for  his  servant  and  the  one  for  an  investment  of  the  funds. 

The  clause  in  his  will  which  was  to  cause  his  name  "to 
live  in  the  memory  of  man  when  the  titles  of  the  Northum- 
berlands  and  the  Percys  are  extinct  and  forgotten,"  was, — 

"  In  the  case  of  the  death  of  my  said  nephew  without  leaving 
a  child  or  children,  or  the  death  of  the  child  or  children  he  may 
have  had  under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or  intestate,  I  then 
bequeath  the  whole  of  my  property  subject  to  the  annuity  of 
one  hundred  pounds  to  John  Fitall  (for  the  security  and  payment 
of  which  I  have  made  pro  vision)  to  the  United  States  of  America, 
to  found  at  Washington,  under  the  name  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  an  establishment  for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of 
knowledge  among  men." 

Why  he  selected  the  United  States  as  his  residuary  legatee 
has  long  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  the  subject  of  curious 
inquiry.  He  had  never  been  in  America,  had  no  correspond 
ent  here,  and  nowhere  in  his  writings  has  there  been  found 
an  allusion  to  our  country.  So  far  as  we  know,  he  could 
have  had  no  possible  prejudice  in  favor  of  our  system  of 
representative  government. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  however,  in  this  connection,  that  the 
pivotal  clause  in  his  will  bears  striking  resemblance  to  the 
admonition,  "  Promote  as  an  object  of  primary  importance 
institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,"  con 
tained  in  the  farewell  address  of  President  Washington. 

The  contingency  provided  for  happened;  the  death  of  the 
nephew  Hungerford  unmarried  and  without  heirs  occurred 
six  years  after  that  of  the  testator.  The  first  announcement 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  the  facts  stated  was 
contained  in  a  special  message  from  President  Jackson  to 


178  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Congress,  December  17,  1835.  Accompanying  the  message 
was  a  letter  with  a  detailed  statement,  and  copy  of  the  will, 
from  our  Legation  in  London.  In  closing  his  brief  message  of 
transmission,  President  Jackson  says:  "  The  Executive  hav 
ing  no  authority  to  take  any  steps  for  accepting  the  trust  and 
obtaining  the  funds,  the  papers  are  communicated  with  a 
view  to  such  measures  as  Congress  may  deem  necessary." 

On  the  first  day  of  July,  1836,  a  bill  authorizing  the  Presi 
dent  to  assert  and  prosecute  the  claim  of  the  United  States 
to  the  Smithson  legacy  became  a  law.  This,  however,  was 
after  much  opposition  in  Congress;  a  member  of  the  House 
indignantly  declaring  that  our  Government  should  receive 
nothing  by  way  of  gift  from  England,  and  proposing  that 
the  bequest  should  be  declined.  The  prophetic  words  of 
the  venerable  John  Quincy  Adams  —  then  a  member  of  the 
House  after  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency  —  in  advocat 
ing  the  passage  of  the  bill  are  worthy  of  remembrance: 

"Of  all  the  foundations  of  establishments  for  pious  or 
charitable  uses  which  ever  signalized  the  spirit  of  the  age,  or 
the  comprehensive  beneficence  of  the  founders,  none  can  be 
named  more  deserving  of  the  approbation  of  mankind  than  this. 
Should  it  be  faithfully  carried  into  effect  with  an  earnestness  and 
sagacity  of  application  and  a  steady  perseverance  of  purpose 
proportioned  to  the  means  furnished  by  the  will  of  the  founder, 
and  to  the  greatness  and  simplicity  of  his  design  as  by  himself 
declared, — '  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men,' 
—  it  is  no  extravagance  of  anticipation  to  declare  that  his  name 
will  hereafter  be  enrolled  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind." 

In  the  execution  of  this  law,  the  President  immediately 
upon  its  enactment  appointed  Richard  Rush,  a  distinguished 
lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  to  proceed  to  London  and  take  the 
necessary  steps  to  obtain  the  legacy.  To  the  accomplish 
ment  of  this  purpose  a  suit  was  soon  thereafter  instituted  by 
Mr.  Rush.  The  hopelessness  of  its  early  termination  in  an 
English  Chancery  Court  of  that  day  will  at  once  occur  to  the 
readers  of  Dickens's  famous  "  Jarndyce  against  Jarndyce." 
It  was  truly  said,  that  a  chancery  suit  was  a  thing  which 
might  begin  with  a  man's  life,  and  its  termination  be  his 
epitaph. 


A  PRINCELY  GIFT  179 

A  wiser  selection  than  Mr.  Rush  could  not  have  been  made. 
He  entered  upon  the  work  to  which  he  had  been  appointed, 
with  great  determination.  In  a  letter  to  our  Secretary  of 
State  just  after  he  had  instituted  suit,  he  says: 

"A  suit  of  higher  interest  and  dignity,  has  rarely  perhaps 
been  before  the  tribunals  of  a  nation.  If  the  trust  created  by 
the  testator's  will  be  successfully  carried  into  effect  by  the 
enlightened  legislation  of  Congress,  benefits  may  flow  to  the 
United  States,  and  to  the  human  family,  not  easy  to  be  estimated, 
because  operating  silently  and  gradually  throughout  time, 
yet  not  operating  the  less  effectually.  Not  to  speak  of  the  inap 
preciable  value  of  letters  to  individual  and  social  man,  the  monu 
ments  which  they  raise  to  a  nation's  glory  often  last  when  others 
perish,  and  seem  especially  appropriate  to  the  glory  of  a  Republic 
whose  foundations  are  laid  in  the  assumed  intelligence  of  its 
citizens,  and  can  only  be  strengthened  and  perpetuated  as 
that  improves." 

The  successful  termination  of  the  suit  came,  however, 
sooner  than  could  have  been  expected;  and  in  May,  1838,  the 
amount  of  the  legacy,  exceeding  the  substantial  sum  of  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  received  and  invested  as 
required  by  law. 

The  facts  stated  were  communicated  by  special  message 
from  President  Van  Buren  to  Congress,  in  December,  1838. 
Attention  was  then  called  to  the  fact  that  he  had  applied 
to  persons  versed  in  science,  for  their  views  as  to  the  mode  of 
disposing  of  the  fund  which  would  be  calculated  best  to 
meet  the  intent  of  the  testator,  and  prove  most  beneficial 
to  mankind. 

During  the  eight  years  intervening  between  this  message 
and  the  passage  of  the  bill  for  the  incorporation  of  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution,  much  discussion  was  had  in  and  out  of 
Congress,  as  to  the  best  method  of  making  effective  the 
intention  of  the  testator. 

In  the  light  of  events,  some  of  the  many  plans  suggested 
are  even  now  of  curious  interest.  The  establishment  of  a 
magnificent  national  library  at  the  Capital;  the  founding  of 
a  great  university;  of  a  normal  school;  a  post  graduate- 
school;  an  astronomical  observatory  "  equal  to  any  in  the 


180          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

world,"  are  a  few  of  the  plans  from  time  to  time  proposed  and 
earnestly  advocated. 

The  act  of  incorporation  in  1846,  the  appointment  of  a 
Board  of  Regents,  and  the  selection  of  a  Secretary,  mark  the 
beginning  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  In  the  selection  of 
a  Secretary,  the  chief  officer  of  the  institution,  the  regents 
builded  better  than  they  knew.  The  choice  fell  upon  Pro 
fessor  Joseph  Henry  of  Princeton,  then  peerless  among  men 
of  science  in  America.  The  appointment  was  accepted,  and 
the  essential  features  of  the  plan  of  organization  he  proposed 
were  adopted  in  December,  1847.  This  plan  recognized  as 

"Fundamental  that  the  terms  'increase'  and  'diffusion'  should 
receive  literal  interpretation  in  accordance  with  the  evident 
intention  of  the  testator;  that  such  terms  being  logically  dis 
tinct,  the  two  purposes  mentioned  in  the  bequest  were  to  be 
kept  in  view  in  the  organization  of  the  institution;  that  the  in 
crease  of  knowledge  should  be  effected  by  the  encouragement  of 
original  researches  of  the  highest  character;  and  its  diffusion 
by  the  publication  of  the  results  of  original  research,  by  means 
of  the  publication  of  a  series  of  volumes  of  original  memoirs; 
that  the  object  of  the  institution  should  not  be  restricted  in 
favor  of  any  particular  kind  of  knowledge;  if  to  any,  only  to 
the  higher  and  more  abstract,  to  the  discovery  of  new  princi 
ples  rather  than  that  of  isolated  facts;  that  the  institution 
should  in  no  sense  be  national;  that  the  bequest  was  intended  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind  in  general,  and  not  for  any  single  nation. 

"  The  accumulation  and  care  of  collections  of  objects  of  nature 
and  art,  the  development  of  a  library,  the  providing  of  courses 
of  lectures,  and  the  organization  of  a  system  of  meteorological 
observation,  were  to  be  only  incidental  to  the  fundamental 
design  of  increasing  and  diffusing  knowledge  among  men." 

In  its  inception,  and  in  its  widening  influence  during  the 
passing  years,  those  entrusted  with  the  actual  management 
of  this  institution  have  conscientiously  kept  in  view  the  clearly 
expressed  intention  of  its  founder.  Following  the  distinctive 
but  parallel  patbs,  "increase"  and  "diffusion,"  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution,  yet  in  its  infancy,  has  added  largely  to 
the  sum  of  useful  knowledge.  Its  accredited  representatives 
are  out  upon  every  pathway  of  intelligent  research  and  dis 
covery.  Under  the  wise  operation  of  this  marvellous  instru- 


A  PRINCELY  GIFT  181 

mentality,  long-concealed  secrets  of  nature  have  been  dis 
covered,  and  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  all  that  it  is  given 
to  man  to  know  will  yet  be  revealed,  and  it  will  be  permitted  him 

"  To  read  what  is  still  unread, 
In  the  manuscripts  of  God." 

By  indefatigable  investigation,  and  by  world-wide  publi 
cation  of  the  results,  mankind  has  indeed  become,  as  was  in 
tended,  the  beneficiary  of  the  princely  bequest. 

More  fitting  words  could  not  be  selected  with  which  to 
close  this  sketch  than  those  of  the  gifted  and  lamented  Lang- 
ley,  whose  best  years  were  given  to  scientific  research,  and 
whose  name  is  inseparably  associated  with  the  Smithsonian 
Institution: 

"What  has  been  done  in  these  two  paths  the  reader  may  partly 
gather  from  this  volume  —  in  the  former  from  the  various  articles 
by  contemporary  men  of  science,  describing  its  activities  in 
research  and  original  contributions  to  the  increase  of  human 
knowledge;  in  the  latter,  in  numerous  ways  —  among  others 
from  the  description  of  the  work  of  one  of  its  bureaux,  that  of 
the  International  Exchanges,  where  it  may  be  more  immediately 
seen  how  universal  is  the  scope  of  the  action  of  the  Institution, 
which,  in  accordance  with  its  motto  "PER  ORBEM,"  is  not  limited 
to  the  country  of  its  adoption,  but  belongs  to  the  world,  there 
being  outside  of  the  United  States  more  than  twelve  thousand 
correspondents  scattered  through  every  portion  of  the  globe; 
indeed  there  is  hardly  a  language,  or  a  people,  where  the  results 
of  Smithson's  benefaction  are  not  known,  and  associated  with 
his  name. 

"  If  we  were  permitted  to  think  of  him  as  conscious  of  what 
has  been,  is  being,  and  is  still  to  be  done,  in  pursuance  of  his 
wish,  we  might  believe  that  he  would  feel  that  his  hope  at  a  time 
when  life  must  have  seemed  so  hopeless,  was  finding  full  fruition; 
for  events  are  justifying  what  may  have  seemed,  at  the  time,  but 
a  rhetorical  expression,  in  the  language  of  a  former  President  of 
the  United  States,  who  has  said:  'Renowned  as  is  the  name  of 
Percy  in  the  historical  annals  of  England,  let  the  trust  of  James 
Smithson  to  the  United  States  of  America  be  faithfully  executed, 
let  the  result  accomplish  his  object,  the  increase  and  diffusion 
of  knowledge  among  men,  and  a  wreath  more  unfading  shall 
entwine  itself  in  the  lapse  of  future  ages  around  the  name  of 
Smithson  than  the  united  hands  of  history  and  poetry  have 
braided  around  the  name  of  Percy  through  the  long  ages  past.' " 


XII 

THE   OLD   RANGER 

JOHN  REYNOLDS,  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS,   A  BORN  POLITICIAN 

HIS  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  PEOPLE  —  HIS  AFFECTATION  OF 
HUMILITY  —  ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR  —  HE  CONDEMNS  A  MUR 
DERER  TO  DEATH  —  HIS  CURIOUS  ADDRESS  TO  ANOTHER 
MURDERER — BECOMES  A  MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  — 

ELECTED    GOVERNOR HIS    GENEROSITY   TO    HIS    POLITICAL 

ENEMIES  —  BECOMES  A  MEMBER  OF  CONGRESS  —  HIS  ADMI 
RATION  FOR  HIS  ASSOCIATES ELECTED  A  MEMBER  OF  THE 

GENERAL    ASSEMBLY    OF   THE    STATE RETIRES   TO    PRIVATE 

LIFE. 

THIS  world  of  ours  will  be  much  older  before  the  like  of 
John  Reynolds,  the  fourth  Governor  of  Illinois,  again 
appears  upon  its  stage.    The  title  which  he  generously 
gave  himself  in  early  manhood,  upon  his  return  after  a  brief 
experience  as  a  trooper  in  pursuit  of  a  marauding  band  of 
Winnebagoes,  stood  him  well  in  hand  in  all  his  future  con 
tests  for  office.    "The  Old  Ranger"  was  a  sobriquet  to  conjure 
with,  and  turned  the  scales  in  his  favor  in  many  a  doubtful 
contest. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  born  politician  if  ever  one 
trod  this  green  earth.  He  was  a  perennial  candidate  for 
office,  and  it  was  said  he  never  took  a  drink  of  water  without 
serious  meditation  as  to  how  it  might  possibly  affect  his 
political  prospects.  The  late  Uriah  Keep  might  easily  have 
gotten  a  few  points  in  "  'umbleness,"  if  he  had  accompanied 
the  Old  Ranger  in  one  or  two  of  his  political  campaigns. 

While  Illinois  was  yet  a  Territory,  his  father  had  emigrated 
from  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  and  located  near  the  historic 
village  of  Kaskaskia.  This  was  at  the  time  the  capital  of 
the  Territory.  The  village  mentioned  was  then  the  most, 
and  in  fact,  the  only,  important  place  in  the  vast  area  con 
stituting  the  present  State  of  Illinois.  There  were  less  than 
five  thousand  persons  of  all  nationalities  and  conditions  in 

182 


THE  OLD  RANGER  183 

the  Territory,  and  they  mainly  in  and  about  Kaskaskia,  and 
southward  to  the  Ohio.  Beck's  Gazetteer  published  in  1823  — 
five  years  after  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union  — 
contains  the  following:  " Chicago,  a  village  of  Pike  County, 
situated  on  Lake  Michigan  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  Creek. 
It  contains  twelve  or  fifteen  houses,  and  about  sixty  or  seventy 
inhabitants." 

The  acquaintance  of  John  Reynolds  with  what  was  then 
known  as  "the  Illinois  Country"  began  in  1800,  and  his 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  people  and  their  ways  gave  him 
rare  opportunities  for  acquiring  great  personal  popularity. 
Fairly  well  educated  for  the  times,  gifted  with  an  abundance 
of  shrewdness,  and  withal  an  excellent  judge  of  human  nature, 
he  soon  became  a  man  of  mark  in  the  new  country.  He  was 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances  the  self-constituted 
"friend  of  the  people."  He  affected  to  be  one  of  the  humblest 
of  the  sons  of  men;  and  his  dress,  language,  and  deportment 
were  always  in  strict  keeping  with  that  assumption.  For 
the  pride  of  ancestry  he  had  a  supreme  contempt.  In  his 
"My  Own  Times,"  published  a  few  years  before  his  death, 
he  said:  "I  regard  the  whole  subject  of  ancestry  and  descent 
as  utterly  frivolous  and  unworthy  of  a  moment's  serious 
attention." 

This  recalls  what  Judge  Baldwin  said  of  Cave  Burton: 

"  He  was  not  clearly  satisfied  that  Esau  made  as  foolish  a 
bargain  with  his  brother  Jacob  as  some  think.  If  the  birth 
right  was  a  mere  matter  of  family  pride,  and  the  pottage  of  agree 
able  taste,  Cave  was  not  quite  sure  that  Esau  had  not  gotten 
the  advantage  in  his  famed  bargain  with  the  Father  of  Israel." 

Humility  was  Reynolds's  highest  card,  and  when  out 
among  the  people  he  was  always  figuratively  clothed  in 
sackcloth  and  ashes.  A  few  extracts  from  his  book  may  be 
of  interest : 

"  I  was  a  singular  spectacle  when  in  1809  I  started  to  Tennes 
see  to  college.  I  looked  like  a  trapper  going  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  I  wore  a  cream-colored  hat  made  of  the  fur  of  the 
prairie  wolf,  which  gave  me  a  grotesque  appearance.  I  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  mysteries  of  horse  and  foot  races,  shooting 
matches,  and  other  wild  sports  of  the  backwoods,  but  had  not 


184          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

studied  the  polish  of  the  ball-room  and  was  sorely  beset  with 
diffidence,  awkwardness,  and  poverty." 

Later,  and  when  out  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians,  he  said : 
"  But  diffidence  never  permitted  me  to  approach  an  officer's 
tent,  or  solicit  any  one  for  an  office." 

None  the  less,  the  office  of  Orderly  Sergeant  being  thrust 
upon  him,  he  managed  in  his  humble  way  to  get  through 
with  it  passably  well. 

When  the  State  Government  was  organized  in  1818,  while 
shrinking  from  even  the  gaze  of  men,  and  spurning  from  the 
depths  of  his  soul  the  arts  of  politicians,  he  managed  in  some 
way  to  be  designated  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  new  State.  His  admiration  for  the  dispensing  hand 
appears  as  follows:  "Wisdom  and  integrity,  with  other  noble 
qualities,  gave  Governor  Bond  a  high  standing  with  his  con 
temporaries.  Wisdom  and  integrity  shed  a  beacon  light 
around  his  path  through  life,  showing  him  to  be  one  of  the 
noblest  works  of  God." 

Four  years  prior  to  this  appointment,  he  had  been 
admitted  to  the  bar,  after  "undergoing  with  much  diffi 
dence"  his  examination.  This  accomplished,  he  adds:  "In 
the  Winter  of  1814, 1  established  a  very  humble  and  obscure 
law-office  in  the  French  village  of  Cahokia,  the  county  seat  of 
St.  Clair  County."  The  bearing  of  the  one  whose  meat  was 
locusts  and  wild  honey,  and  whose  loins  were  girt  about  with 
a  leathern  girdle,  was  arrogance  itself,  when  compared  with 
the  deportment  of  the  later  John  in  the  wilderness  at  the 
period  whereof  we  write. 

That  he  was  orthodox  upon  what  pertained  to  medical 
practice  will  now  appear:  "It  was  the  universal  practice  to 
give  the  patient  of  the  bilious  disease,  first,  tartar  emetic; 
next  day,  calomel  and  jalap;  and  the  third  day,  Peruvian  bark. 
This  was  generally  sufficient."  The  latter  statement  will 
hardly  be  questioned. 

How  his  first  visitation  of  the  tender  passion  was  min 
gled  with  a  relish  of  philosophy  is  recorded  for  the  benefit  of 
posterity: 

"  During  all  my  previous  life  until  within  a  short  time  befort 


THE  OLD  RANGER  185 

I  married,  I  had  not  the  least  intention  of  that  state  of  existence, 
and  I  expressed  myself  often  to  my  friends  to  the  same  effect; 
but  on  the  subject  of  matrimony,  a  passion  influences  the 
parties  which  generally  succeeds.  Judgment  and  prudence 
should  be  mixed  in  equal  parts  with  love  and  affection  in  the 
transaction,  to  secure  a  lasting  and  happy  union." 

With  all  his  diffidence,  however,  the  Old  Ranger  hap 
pened  to  turn  up  at  the  seat  of  Government  in  time  "  to  be 
persuaded  by  my  friends  to  be  a  candidate  for  a  Judgeship. 
It  broke  in  on  me  like  a  clap  of  thunder."  The  mite  of 
philosophy  with  which  he  excused  himself  for  giving  way  to 
the  urgent  demand  of  his  friends,  is  as  follows:  "Human 
nature  is  easier  to  persuade  to  mount  upwards  than  to  re 
main  on  the  common  level." 

His  mind,  as  will  appear,  was  essentially  of  the  strictly 
practical  cast.  He  no  doubt  believed  with  Macaulay  that 
"one  acre  in  Middlesex  is  worth  a  principality  in  Utopia." 

That  the  Republican  simplicity  of  the  new  Judge  followed 
him  from  his  "  very  humble  and  obscure  law-office  "  to  the 
Bench,  will  now  appear: 

"  The  very  first  court  I  held  was  in  Washington  County,  and 
it  was  to  me  a  strange  and  novel  business.  I  was  amongst  old 
comrades  with  whom  I  had  been  raised,  ranged  in  the  war  with 
them,  and  lived  with  them  in  great  intimacy  and  equality,  so 
that  it  was  difficult  to  assume  a  different  relationship  than  I 
had  previously  occupied  with  them.  Moreover  I  detested  a 
mock  dignity.  Both  the  sheriff  and  clerk  were  rangers  in  the 
same  company  with  myself,  and  it  seemed  we  were  still  ranging 
on  equal  terms  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians.  The  sheriff  was  of  the 
same  opinion  and  very  familiar.  He  opened  court  sitting  astride 
on  a  bench  in  the  Court-house,  and  without  rising,  proclaimed: 
'The  court  is  now  open,  and  our  John  is  on  the  bench.' " 

It  may  here  be  mentioned  that  the  first  case  of  importance 
that  came  before  Judge  Reynolds,  was  the  trial  of  one  William 
Bennett  for  murder.  He  had  killed  his  antagonist  in  a 
duel  in  St.  Clair  County,  for  which  he  suffered  the  death 
penalty.  This  is  the  only  duel  ever  fought  in  Illinois.  No 
doubt  the  prompt  execution  of  Bennett  did  much  to  discour 
age  duelling  in  the  State. 

In  reply  to  the  charge  that  he  had  acted  with  unbecom- 


186  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

ing  levity  upon  the  trial  of  Bennett,  the  Judge  said,  "  No 
human  being  of  my  humble  capacity  could  have  acted  with 
more  painful  feelings  and  sympathy  than  did  I  on  this  oc 
casion."  Having  thus  vindicated  himself  from  the  serious 
charge  mentioned,  he  adds: 

"  I  am  opposed  to  capital  punishment  in  any  case  where  the 
convict  can  be  kept  in  solitary  confinement  without  pardoning 
his  life;  it  was  extremely  painful  and  awful  to  me  to  be  the  instru 
ment  in  the  hands  of  the  law  to  pronounce  sentence  of  death  upon 
my  fellow-man,  extinguishing  him  forever  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  depriving  him  of  life,  which  I  think  belongs  to  God 
and  not  to  man." 

He  consoles  himself,  however,  as  he  closes  his  narrative  of 
this  sad  affair,  that  "it  never  did  assume  the  character  of 
a  regular  and  honorable  duel."  It  is  very  satisfactory  also, 
even  at  this  distant  date,  to  be  assured  by  the  Judge  that  "  the 
prisoner  embraced  religion,  was  baptized,  and  died  happy, 
before  spectators  to  the  number  of  two  thousand  or  more." 

Governor  Ford,  in  his  history  of  Illinois,  relates  the  follow 
ing  incident  as  characteristic  of  Judge  Reynolds.  The  latter 
was  holding  court  in  Washington  County  when  one  Green  was 
found  guilty  upon  an  indictment  for  murder.  The  court  was 
near  the  hour  of  adjournment  for  the  term,  when  the  prosecut 
ing  attorney  suggested  to  the  court  that  the  prisoner  Green 
be  brought  in  in  order  that  sentence  be  passed  upon  him. 
"Certainly,  certainly,"  said  the  Judge,  and  the  prisoner  was 
at  once  brought  in  from  the  jail  near  by. 

"  Mr.  Green,"  said  the  Judge  in  a  familiar  tone,  "  the  jury 
in  your  case  have  found  you  guilty.  I  want  you  to  under 
stand,  Mr.  Green,  and  all  your  friends  down  on  Indian  Creek 
to  know,  that  it  is  not  I  who  condemns  you,  but  the  jury 
and  the  law.  The  law  allows  you  time  for  preparation,  Mr. 
Green;  and  so  the  court  wants  to  know  what  time  it  would 
suit  you  to  be  hung?"  The  prisoner  replying  that  he  was 
ready  to  suffer  at  whatever  time  the  court  might  appoint,  the 
Judge  said: 

"Mr.  Green,  you  must  know  that  it  is  a  very  serious 
matter  to  be  hung.  It  can't  happen  to  a  man  more  than 
once  in  his  life,  and  you  had  better  take  all  the  time  you  can 


THE  OLD  RANGER  187 

get;  the  court  will  give  you  till  this  day  four  weeks.  Mr. 
Clerk,  look  at  the  almanac  and  see  if  this  day  four  weeks 
comes  on  Sunday.  "  The  Clerk  after  examination  reported 
that  that  day  four  weeks  came  on  Friday.  The  Judge  then 
said:  "Mr.  Green,  the  court  gives  you  till  this  day  four 
weeks,  and  then  you  are  to  be  hanged." 

Whereupon  the  prosecuting  officer,  the  Hon.  James  Tur- 
ney,  an  able  and  dignified  lawyer,  said : 

"May  it  please  the  court,  on  solemn  occasions  like  the 
present,  when  the  life  of  a  human  being  is  to  be  sentenced 
away  for  crime  by  an  earthly  tribunal,  it  is  usual  and  proper 
for  courts  to  pronounce  a  formal  sentence,  in  which  the 
leading  features  of  the  crime  shall  be  brought  to  the  recol 
lection  of  the  prisoner,  a  sense  of  his  guilt  impressed  upon 
his  conscience,  and  in  which  the  prisoner  should  be  duly  ex 
horted  to  repentance  and  warned  against  the  judgment  in  a 
world  to  come." 

To  which  the  Judge  replied:  "  Oh,  Mr.  Turney,  Mr.  Green 
understands  the  whole  matter  as  well  as  if  I  had  preached  to 
him  a  month.  He  knows  he  has  got  to  be  hung  this  day  four 
weeks.  You  understand  it  that  way,  Mr.  Green,  don't  you?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  prisoner,  upon  which  the  Judge  again  ex 
pressing  the  hope  that  he  and  all  his  friends  down  on  Indian 
Creek  would  understand  that  it  was  the  act  of  the  jury 
and  of  the  law,  and  not  of  the  Judge,  ordered  the  prisoner 
to  be  remanded  to  jail,  and  the  court  adjourned  for  the  term. 

For  some  reason,  by  no  means  satisfactorily  explained, 
Judge  Reynolds  retired  from  the  bench  at  the  end  of  his  four 
years'  term.  In  "Breese,"  the  first  volume  of  Illinois  reports, 
is  an  opinion  by  Judge  Reynolds  which  has  been  the  subject 
of  amusing  comment  by  three  generations  of  lawyers.  After 
giving  sundry  reasons  why  there  was  error  in  the  judg 
ment  below,  the  learned  Judge  concludes:  "  Therefore,  the 
judgment  ought  to  be  reversed;  but  inasmuch  as  the  court 
is  equally  divided  in  opinion,  it  is  therefore  affirmed." 

He  then  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  as  he  says, 
"was  familiar  with  the  people,  got  acquainted  with  every 
body,  and  became  somewhat  popular.  I  had  no  settled  ob 
ject  in  view  other  than  to  make  a  living,  and  to  continue  on 


- 


188          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

in  my  humble,  peaceable,  and  agreeable  manner."  In  view 
of  the  aversion  already  shown  to  office-holding,  the  fol 
lowing  disclaimer  upon  the  part  of  the  Judge  seems  wholly 
superfluous:  "I  had  no  political  ambition  or  aspirations  for 
office  whatever." 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  at  this  time  his  domestic 
affairs  were  in  a  satisfactory  condition:  " Plain  and  un 
pretending;  never  kept  any  liquor  in  the  house  —  treated  my 
friends  to  every  civility  except  liquor;  used  an  economy 
bordering  on  parsimony." 

Under  the  favorable  conditions  mentioned,  the  Judge 
was  enabled  to  overcome  his  aversion  to  holding  office,  and 
became  a  humble  member  of  the  State  Legislature  immedi 
ately  upon  his  retirement  from  the  bench.  That  his  "  modest 
aspirations"  were  on  a  higher  plane  than  that  of  ordinary 
legislators  will  clearly  appear  from  the  following:  "I  entered 
this  Legislature  without  any  ulterior  views,  and  with  an  eye 
single  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  the  State,  and  particu 
larly  the  welfare  of  old  St.  Clair  County.  My  only  ambition 
was  to  acquit  myself  properly,  and  to  advance  the  best  in 
terests  of  the  country." 

Two  years  later,  the  aversion  of  the  Old  Ranger  for  office 
was  again  overcome,  as  will  appear  from  the  following:  "I 
entered  this  Legislature,  as  I  had  the  last,  without  any  pledge 
or  restraints  whatever;  I  then  was,  and  am  yet,  only  an  hum 
ble  member  of  the  Democratic  party." 

His  friends  were  again  on  the  war-path  and  the  shadow 
of  the  chief  executive  office  of  the  State  was  now  beginning 
to  fall  across  his  pathway.  He  says : 

"It  would  require  volumes  to  record  the  transactions  of 
these  Legislatures,  and  of  my  humble  labors  in  them;  but  it  was 
my  course  of  conduct  in  these  two  sessions  of  the  General  Assem 
bly  that  induced  my  friends,  without  any  solicitation  on  my  part, 
to  offer  me  as  a  candidate  for  Governor.  I  was  urged  not  by 
politicians,  but  by  reasonable  and  reflecting  men,  more  to  advance 
the  interest  of  the  State  than  my  own." 

If  we  did  not,  from  his  own  lips,  know  how  the  Judge 
loathed  "  the  arts  of  politicians,"  we  might  almost  be  tempted 
to  conclude  from  the  following  that  he  was  one  of  them: 


THE  OLD  RANGER  180 

"  I  traversed  every  section  of  the  State,  and  knew  well  the 
people.  My  friends  had  the  utmost  confidence  in  my  knowledge 
of  the  people,  and  when  I  suggested  any  policy  to  be  observed, 
this  suggestion  was  consequently  carried  out  as  I  requested  — 
thus  placing  all  under  one  leader." 

This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  in  1830,  and  neither  Rey 
nolds  nor  Kinney,  his  competitor,  had  received  a  party  nom 
ination.  Both  were  of  the  same  party,  Kinney  being  a  strong 
Jackson  man  of  the  ultra  type,  and  the  Judge  only  a  "plain, 
humble,  reflecting  Jackson  man." 

At  one  time  during  the  campaign  it  seemed  as  if  there  were 
real  danger  of  this  candidate  of  the  "reflecting  men  of  the 
State"  actually  falling  into  the  ways  and  wiles  of  politicians. 
"I  often  addressed  the  people  in  churches,  in  courthouses,  and 
in  the  open  air,  myself  occupying  literally  the  stump  of  a 
large  tree;  at  times  also  in  a  grocery." 

The  fiery  and  abusive  hand-bills  against  his  competitor 
he  did  not  attempt  to  restrain  his  friends  from  circulating, 
"as  they  had  a  right  to  exercise  their  own  judgment";  but 
he  declares  he  did  not  circulate  one  himself.  He  moreover 
felicitates  himself  upon  the  fact  that  this  conciliatory  course 
gamed  him  votes. 

This  noted  contest  lasted  eighteen  months,  as  Reynolds 
says,  and,  the  State  being  sparsely  populated,  he  enjoyed 
the  personal  acquaintance  of  almost  every  voter.  The  fact, 
as  he  further  states,  that  his  opponent  was  a  clergyman,  was 
a  great  drawback  to  him,  and  almost  all  the  Christian  sects, 
except  his  own  — the  anti-missionary  Baptists — opposed  him. 
With  a  candor  that  does  him  credit,  the  Judge  admits  "the 
support  of  the  religious  people  was  not  so  much  for  me,  but 
against  him." 

No  national  issues  were  discussed,  but  one  point  urged 
by  Kinney  against  the  proposed  Michigan  canal  was,  "that  it 
would  flood  the  country  with  Yankees."  It  would  be  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  that  Reynolds  himself  wholly  escaped 
vituperation.  On  the  contrary,  he  claims  the  credit  of  being 
"the  best  abused  man  in  the  State."  He  relates  that  one 
of  the  stories  told  on  him  was,  "that  I  saw  a  scarecrow, 


190  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  effigy  of  a  man  in  a  corn-field,  just  at  dusk,  and  that  I 
said,  '  How  are  you,  my  friend?  Won't  you  take  some  of 
my  hand  bills  to  distribute?' ' 

Some  light  is  shed  on  the  politics  of  the  good  old  days  of 
our  fathers  by  the  following:  "The  party  rancor  in  the  cam 
paign  raged  so  high  that  neighborhoods  fell  out  with  one 
another,  and  the  angry  and  bitter  feelings  entered  into  the 
common  transactions  of  life." 

If  the  contest  had  lasted  a  year  or  two  longer  it  is  not 
improbable  that  our  candidate  would  have  fallen  from  his 
high  "reflecting"  state  to  the  low  level  of  artful  politicians. 
"It  was  the  universal  custom  of  the  times  to  treat  with 
liquor.  We  both  did  it;  but  he  was  condemned  for  it  more 
than  myself  by  the  religious  community,  he  being  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel." 

Some  atonement,  however,  is  made  for  the  bad  whiskey 
our  model  candidate  dispensed  by  the  noble  sentiment  with 
which  he  closes  this  chapter  of  his  contest:  "I  was,  and  am 
yet,  one  of  the  people,  and  every  pulsation  of  our  hearts 
beats  in  unison." 

Having  been  elected  by  a  considerable  majority  as  he 
modestly  remarks,  our  Governor-elect  falls  into  something 
of  a  philosophical  train  of  thought,  and  horror  of  politicians 
and  their  wiles  and  ways  again  possessed  him.  He  says : 

"  It  may  be  considered  vanity  and  frailty  in  me,  but  when  I 
was  elected  Governor  of  the  State  on  fair,  honorable  principles 
by  the  masses,  without  intrigue  or  management  of  party  or  cor 
rupt  politicians,  I  deemed  it  the  decided  approbation  of  my 
countrymen,  and  consequently  a  great  honor." 

The  admonition  of  this  sage  statesman  to  the  rising  gen 
eration  upon  the  subject  of  office-seeking,  is  worthy  of  pro 
found  consideration: 

"  But  were  I  to  live  over  again  another  life,  I  think  I  would 
have  the  moral  courage  to  refrain  from  aspiring  for  any  office 
within  the  gift  of  the  people.  By  no  means  do  I  believe  a  per 
son  should  be  sordid  and  selfish  in  all  his  actions,  yet  cannot  a 
person  be  more  useful  to  the  public  if  he  possesses  talents  in 
other  situations  than  in  office?" 


THE  OLD  RANGER  191 

Some  memory  of  the  well-known  ingratitude  of  republics 
evidently  entered  like  iron  into  his  very  soul  when  his  mem 
oirs  were  written: 

"Moreover,  a  public  officer  may  toil  and  labor  all  his  best 
days  with  the  utmost  fidelity  and  patriotism,  and  the  masses 
who  reap  the  reward  of  his  labors  frequently  permit  him,  without 
any  particular  fault  upon  his  part,  to  live  and  die  in  his  old  age 
with  disrespect.  Witness  the  punishment  inflicted  on  Socrates, 
on  our  Saviour,  and  many  others  for  no  crime  whatever.  But 
this  contumely  and  disrespect  ought  not  to  deter  a  good  and 
qualified  man  from  entering  the  public  service,  if  he  is  satisfied 
that  the  good  of  the  country  requires  it." 

At  this  point  in  the  career  of  this  eminent  public  servant, 
deep  sympathy  is  aroused  on  account  of  the  conflict  between 
his  humility  and  a  not  very  clearly-defined  belief  that  some 
thing  was  due  to  the  great  office  to  which  he  had  been  elevated. 
As  preliminary,  however,  to  accomplishing  what  was  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  people  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  "my 
first  object  was  to  soften  down  the  public  mind  to  its  sober 
senses."  That  no  living  man  was  better  qualified  for  the 
accomplishment  of  so  praiseworthy  a  purpose  will  now  appear: 
"It  has  been  my  opinion  of  my  humble  self,  that  whatever 
small  forte  I  might  possess  was  to  conciliate  and  soften  down 
a  turbulent  and  furious  people." 

This  being  all  satisfactorily  accomplished  and  the  abundant 
reward  of  the  peacemaker  in  sure  keeping  for  this  humble 
instrument,  his  efforts  were  now  directed  toward  the  dis 
charge  of  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  he  had  so  unex 
pectedly  been  called. 

That  this  hitherto  unquestioned  "friend  of  the  people" 
was  now  manifesting  a  slight  tendency  toward  the  frailties 
and  vanities  of  the  common  run  of  men,  will  appear  from  the 
following : 

"It  was  my  nature  not  to  feel  or  appear  elevated,  but  I 
discovered  that  my  appearance  and  deportment,  at  times,  might 
look  like  affected  humility  or  mock  modesty,  which  I  sincerely 
despised,  and  then  /  would  straighten  up  a  little." 

It  may  be  truly  said  of  Reynolds,  as  Macaulay  said  of 
Horace  Walpole:  "The  conformation  of  his  mind  was  such 


10*          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

that  whatever  was  little  seemed  to  him  great;  and  whatever 
was  great,  seemed  to  him  little." 

Having  in  his  inaugural  given  expression  to  the  noble 
sentiment  that  "proscription  for  opinion's  sake  is  the  worst 
enemy  to  the  Republic/'  he  at  once  generously  dispelled  what 
ever  apprehensions  his  late  opponents  might  feel  as  to  what 
was  to  befall  them,  by  the  assurance:  "Therefore,  all  those 
who  honestly  and  honorably  supported  my  respectable  op 
ponent  in  the  last  election  for  Governor  shall  experience  from 
me  no  inconvenience  on  that  account."  Unfortunately  no 
light  is  shed  upon  the  interesting  inquiry  as  to  what  "incon 
venience"  was  experienced  by  those  who  had  otherwise  than 
"honestly  and  honorably"  supported  his  respectable  oppo 
nent  in  the  late  contest. 

The  Black  Hawk  War  was  the  principal  event  of  the  ad 
ministration  of  Governor  Reynolds.  A  treaty  of  peace  being 
concluded,  the  Indians  were  removed  beyond  the  Mississippi 
River.  In  all  this  the  Governor  acquitted  himself  with  credit. 

That  his  aversion  to  office-holding  was  in  some  measure 
lessening,  will  appear  from  the  following: 

"  Being  in  the  office  of  Governor  for  some  years,  I  was  pre 
vented  from  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  in  the  meantime  had 
been  engaged  in  public  life  until  it  commenced  to  be  a  kind  of 
second  nature  to  me.  Moreover,  I  was  then  young,  ardent,  and 
ambitious,  so  that  I  really  thought  it  was  right  for  me  to  offer 
for  Congress;  and  I  did  so,  in  the  Spring  of  1834." 

An  "artful  politician "  would  probably  have  waited  until  the 
expiration  of  his  term  as  Governor.  Not  so  with  this  "friend 
of  the  people. "  He  was  not  only  elected  to  the  next  Congress, 
but  the  death  of  the  sitting  member  for  the  District  creating 
a  vacancy,  Reynolds  was  of  course  elected  to  that  also,  and 
was  thus  at  one  time  Governor  of  the  State  and  member 
elect  both  to  the  next  and  to  the  present  Congress. 

His  triumph  over  his  "able  and  worthy  competitor"  is 
accounted  for  in  this  wise:  "I  was  myself  tolerably  well  in 
formed  in  the  science  of  electioneering  with  the  masses  of  the 
people.  I  was  raised  with  the  people,  and  was  literally  one 
of  them.  We  always  acted  together,  and  our  common  in- 


THE  OLD  RANGER  193 

stincts,  feelings  and  interests  were  the  same."  He  here 
modestly  ventured  the  opinion  that  his  "  efforts  on  the  stump, 
while  making  no  pretension  to  classic  eloquence,  yet  flowing 
naturally  from  the  heart,  supplied  in  them  many  defects." 
A  mite  of  self-approval,  tinged  with  a  philosophy  which 
appears  to  have  been  always  kept  on  tap,  closes  this  chapter 
of  his  remarkable  career.  He  says: 

"I  sincerely  state  that  I  never  regarded  as  important  the 
salary  of  the  office,  but  I  entered  public  office  with  a  sincere 
desire  to  advance  the  best  interest  of  the  country,  which  was 
my  main  reward.  If  a  person  would  subdue  his  ambition  for 
office  and  remain  a  private  citizen,  he  would  be  a  more  happy 
man." 

That  he  must  have  been  the  most  miserable  of  men, 
during  the  greater  part  of  his  long  life,  clearly  appears 
from  the  following:  " There  is  no  person  happy  who  is  in 
public  office,  or  a  candidate  for  office." 

A  more  extensive  field  of  usefulness  now  opened  up  to 
the  Old  Ranger  as  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress.  He  had 
many  projects  in  mind  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  —  one, 
the  reduction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands  to  actual  set 
tlers;  another,  the  improvement  of  our  Western  rivers.  But 
like  many  other  members  both  before  and  since  his  day,  he 
found  that  "these  things  were  easier  to  talk  about  on  the 
stump  than  to  do."  He  candidly  admits:  "This  body  was 
much  greater  than  I  had  supposed,  and  I  could  effect  much 
less  than  I  had  contemplated." 

He  informs  us  that  he  felt  like  a  country  boy  just  from 
home  the  first  time,  as  he  entered  the  hall  of  the  law-makers 
of  the  great  Republic.  The  city  of  Washington,  grand  and 
imposing,  impressed  him  deeply,  but  was  as  the  dust  in  the 
balance  to  "the  assemblage  of  great  men  at  the  seat  of 
Government  of  the  United  States,  and  at  the  opening  of 
Congress,  where  a  grand  and  really  imposing  spectacle  was 
presented." 

His  profound  admiration  for  some  of  his  associates  upon 
the  broader  theatre  of  the  public  service  found  vent  in  the 
following  eloquent  words: 


194  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"  When  the  Roman  Empire  reached  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
literary  fame  and  political  power  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar, 
the  period  was  called  the  Augustan  age.  There  was  a  period 
that  existed  eminently  in  the  Jackson  administration  and  a  few 
years  after  that  might  be  called  the  Augustan  age  of  Con 
gress.  So  extraordinary  a  constellation  of  great  and  distin 
guished  individuals  may  never  again  appear  in  office  at  the  seat 
of  government. " 

If  apology  were  needed  for  the  new  member's  exalted 
opinion  of  his  associates,  it  can  readily  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  among  them  in  the  House  were  John  Quincy 
Adams,  John  Bell,  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  Ben  Hardin,  James 
K.  Polk,  Millard  Fillmore,  and  Franklin  Pierce.  The  first 
named  had  been  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  last 
three  were  yet  to  hold  that  great  office.  At  the  same  time 
"the  constellation  of  great  stars"  that  almost  appalled  the 
Illinois  member  upon  his  introduction  included,  in  the  Sen 
ate,  Crittenden,  Wright,  Cass,  Woodbury,  Preston,  Buchanan, 
Grundy,  Benton,  Clay,  Calhoun,  and  Webster. 

On  finally  taking  leave  of  Congress,  our  member  congrat 
ulates  himself  that  during  seven  years  of  service  he  was  ab 
sent  from  his  seat  but  a  single  day.  That  all  his  humble 
endeavors  were  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  of  course,  goes 
without  saying.  He  deprecates  in  strong  terms  the  extrav 
agance  of  some  members  of  Congress  in  allowing  their  ex 
penses  to  exceed  their  salaries,  and  then  leaving  the  capital 
in  debt.  That  he  did  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  practised 
economy  in  all  his  expenses,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  state. 
He  is  not,  however,  entitled  to  a  patent  for  the  discovery 
that  "the  expenses  for  living  at  the  seat  of  Government  of 
the  United  States  are  heavy." 

Being  a  widower,  conditions  were  now  favorable  for  a 
little  romance  to  be  mingled  with  the  dull  cares  of  state. 
Near  the  close  of  his  last  term,  he  says:  "I  became  acquainted 
with  a  lady  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  we,  in  considera 
tion  of  mutual  love  and  affection,  married.  The  same  tie 
binds  us  in  matrimonial  happiness  to  the  present  time."  He 
here  admits  a  fact  that  might  at  this  later  day  subject  him 
to  Executive  displeasure:  " Posterity  will  have  an  unsettled 


THE  OLD  RANGER  195 

account  against  us  for  having  added  nothing  to  the  great 
reservoir  of  the  human  family." 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  that  while  in  Congress  our 
member  numbly  accepted  the  appointment  tendered  him  by 
Governor  Carlin  as  Commissioner  to  negotiate  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal  bonds.  His  earnest  desire  to  have  some 
one  else  appointed  availed  nothing,  and  in  the  interest  of 
that  great  enterprise,  upon  the  success  of  which  the  future  of 
the  State  seemed  to  hang,  he  spent  the  summer  of  1839 
in  Europe.  While  his  mission  abroad  was  fruitless  as  to 
its  immediate  object,  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  our 
commissioner  returned  duly  impressed  with  "the  immense 
superiority  in  every  possible  manner  of  our  own  country, 
and  all  its  glorious  institutions,  over  those  of  the  monarchies 
of  the  old  world. " 

It  would  be  idle  to  suppose  that  the  retirement  of  the 
Old  Ranger  from  Congress  was  to  terminate  his  career  of 
usefulness  to  the  people.  On  the  contrary,  he  says:  "In  1846, 
I  was  elected  a  member  from  St.  Clair  County  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State.  The  main  object  of  myself  and  friends 
was  to  obtain  a  charter  for  a  macadamized  road  from  Belle 
ville  to  the  Mississippi  River,  opposite  St.  Louis." 

This  all  satisfactorily  accomplished,  and  the  Legislature 
adjourned,  "I  turned  my  time  and  attention  to  the  calm 
and  quiet  of  life.  With  my  choice  library  of  one  thousand 
volumes  I  indulged  in  the  study  of  science  and  literature. 
I  soon  discovered  that  the  bustle  and  turmoil  of  political 
life  did  not  produce  happiness." 

Sad  to  relate,  this  faithful  public  servant,  worn  with  the 
cares  of  state,  was  not  even  yet  permitted  to  lay  aside  his 
armor.  The  happiness  of  private  life,  for  which  his  soul 
yearned  as  the  hart  panteth  for  the  water  brooks,  was  again 
postponed  for  the  hated  bustle  and  turmoil  of  politics.  In 
1852,  against  his  remonstrances,  he  was  again  elected  to  the 
Legislature,  and  upon  the  organization  of  the  House  unani 
mously  chosen  Speaker. 

Reluctantly  indeed,  we  now  take  leave  of  John  Reynolds 
—  the  quaintest  of  all  the  odd  characters  this  country  of 


196  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

ours  has  known.  In  doing  so,  it  is  indeed  a  comfort  to  know 
that,  true  as  the  needle  to  the  pole,  his  great  heart  continued 
to  beat  in  unison  with  that  of  the  people.  Ascending  the 
Speaker's  stand,  and  lifting  the  gavel,  with  deep  emotion  he 
said  —  and  these  are  to  us  his  last  words:  "I  have  nothing 
to  labor  for  but  the  public  good.  My  life  has  been  de 
voted  to  promote  the  public  interest  of  Illinois,  and  in  my 
latter  days  it  will  afford  me  profound  pleasure  to  advance 
now,  as  I  have  always  done  in  the  past,  the  best  interests 
of  the  people" 


JOHN  - REYNOLDS 


JOSEPH   SMITH 
(From  a  rare  photograph) 


xm 

THE   MORMON   EXODUS   FROM   ILLINOIS 

DELEGATE  CANNON  AND  SENATOR  CANNON,  MORMONS SKETCH 

OF  MORMONISM  BY  GOVERNOR  FORD JOSEPH  SMITH'S  OWN 

ACCOUNT  OF  THE  ORIGIN  OF  HIS  CHURCH  —  HOW  "THE  BOOK 
OF  MORMON"  WAS  MADE  —  NAUVOO,  "THE  HOLY  CITY"  — 
EFFORTS  OF  WHIGS  AND  DEMOCRATS  TO  WIN  THE  VOTES  OF 
THE  MORMONS VICTORY  OF  THE  DEMOCRATS,  AND  CONSE 
QUENT  ANTI-MORMONISM  OF  THE  WHIGS — JOSEPH  SMITH'S 

PRETENSIONS   TO    ROYALTY THE    ORIGIN    OF    POLYGAMY    IN 

THE  MORMON  CHURCH  —  CONFLICT  WITH  THE  STATE  AUTHORI 
TIES  SURRENDER  OF  THE  LEADERS ASSASSINATION  OF 

SMITH  —  BRIGHAM  YOUNG  CHOSEN  AS  HIS  SUCCESSOR  — 
THE  EXODUS  BEGINS. 

JUST  across  the  aisle  from  my  seat  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  during  the  forty-sixth  Congress  sat  George  Q. 
Cannon,  the  delegate  from  the  Territory  of  Utah.  He 
held  this  position  for  many  years,  and  possessed  in  the  high 
est  degree  the  confidence  of  the  Mormon  people.  Fifteen 
years  later,  when  presiding  over  the  Senate,  I  administered 
the  oath  of  office  to  his  son,  the  Hon.  Frank  J.  Cannon,  the 
first  chosen -to  represent  the  State  of  Utah  in  the  Upper  Cham 
ber  of  the  National  Congress.  Senator  Cannon  was  then  in 
high  favor  with  "the  powers  that  be"  in  Salt  Lake  City,  but 
for  some  cause  not  well  understood  by  the  Gentile  world,  is 
now  persona  non  grata  with  the  head  of  the  Mormon  Church. 
The  younger  Cannon  was  not  a  polygamist,  and  no  objection 
was  urged  to  his  being  seated  upon  the  presentation  of  his 
credentials  as  a  Senator.  His  father,  the  delegate,  was  in 
theory  a  polygamist,  and  had  "  the  courage  of  his  convic 
tions  "  to  the  extent  of  being  the  husband  of  five  wives,  and 
the  head  of  as  many  separate  households.  This,  before  the 
days  of  "unfriendly  legislation,"  was,  in  Mormon  parlance, 
called  "living  your  religion." 

The  delegate  and  the  Senator  were  both  men  of  ability, 

197 


198  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  possessed  in  large  degree  the  respect  of  their  associates. 
The  former  was  in  early  youth  a  resident  of  Illinois,  and  was 
of  the  advance  guard  of  the  Mormon  exodus  to  the  valley  of 
the  Great  Salt  Lake  soon  after  the  assassination  of  the 
"prophet."  When  I  first  visited  Salt  Lake  City,  in  1879, 
George  Q.  Cannon,  in  addition  to  being  the  delegate  in  Con 
gress,  was  one  of  the  "Quorum  of  the  Twelve,"  and  was  in 
the  line  of  succession  to  the  presidency  of  the  Church.  From 
him  I  learned  much  that  was  of  interest  concerning  the  his 
tory  and  tenets  of  the  Mormon  people.  The  venerable  John 
Taylor  was  then  the  president  of  the  Church,  the  immediate 
successor  of  Brigham  Young.  He  was  in  early  life  a  resident 
with  his  people  in  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  and  was  a  prisoner  in  the 
Carthage  jail  with  the  "Prophet  Joseph"  at  the  time  of  his 
assassination,  in  1844.  President  Taylor  gave  me  a  graphic 
description  of  that  now  historic  tragedy,  and  of  his  own  nar 
row  escape  from  the  fate  of  his  idolized  leader. 

A  brief  notice  of  this  singular  people,  and  of  what  they 
did  and  suffered  in  Illinois,  may  not  be  wholly  without  in 
terest.  Mormonism  was  the  apple  of  discord  in  the  State 
during  almost  the  entire  official  term  of  the  late  Governor 
Ford.  More  than  one  little  army  was,  during  that  period, 
sent  into  Hancock  County  —  "the  Mormon  country"  —  to 
suppress  disturbances  and  maintain  public  order. 

Governor  Ford  says: 

"The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints,  as  this 
organization  is  denominated  by  its  adherents,  is  to  be  viewed 
from  the  antagonistic  Gentile  and  Mormon  standpoints. 

"Joseph  Smith,  the  founder  of  the  Mormon  Church  and  its 
prophet,  was  born  in  Vermont,  in  1805,  of  obscure  parentage. 
His  early  education  was  extremely  limited.  When  he  first 
began  to  act  the  prophet,  he  was  ignorant  of  almost  every 
thing  which  pertained  to  science;  but  he  made  up  in  natural 
cunning  for  many  deficiencies  of  education.  At  the  age  of 
ten,  he  was  taken  by  his  father  to  Wayne  County,  New  York, 
where  his  youth  was  spent  in  an  idle,  vagabond  life,  roaming 
the  woods,  dreaming  of  buried  treasures,  and  exerting  him 
self  to  find  them  by  the  twisting  of  a  forked  stick  in  his  hands, 
or  by  looking  through  enchanted  stones.  He  and  his  father 
were  'water  witches/  always  ready  to  point  out  the  exact 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         199 

points  where  wells  could  be  successfully  dug.  While  lead 
ing  an  idle,  profligate  life,  Joseph  Smith  became  acquainted 
with  Sidney  Rigdon,  a  man  of  talents  and  great  plausibility. 
Rigdon  was  the  possessor  of  a  religious  romance  written  some 
years  before  by  a  Presbyterian  clergyman.  The  perusal  of 
this  book  suggested  to  Smith  and  Rigdon  the  idea  of  starting 
a  new  religion.  By  them  a  story  was  accordingly  devised  to 
the  effect  that  golden  plates  had  been  found  buried  near 
Palmyra,  New  York,  containing  a  record  inscribed  on  them 
in  unknown  characters,  which,  when  deciphered  by  the  power 
of  inspiration,  gave  the  history  of  the  ten  lost  tribes  of  Israel 
in  their  wanderings  through  Asia  into  America,  where  they 
had  settled  and  flourished,  and  where,  in  due  time,  Christ 
came  and  preached  the  Gospel  to  them,  appointed  his  twelve 
Apostles,  and  was  crucified  here,  nearly  in  the  same  manner 
he  had  been  in  Jerusalem.  The  record  then  pretended  to 
give  the  history  of  the  American  Christians  for  a  few  hundred 
years  until  the  wickedness  of  the  people  called  down  the 
judgment  of  God  upon  them,  which  resulted  in  their  exter 
mination.  Several  nations  from  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  to 
the  northern  extremity  of  the  continent  were  engaged  in  con 
tinual  warfare.  The  culmination  of  all  this  was  the  battle 
of  Cumorah,  fought  many  centuries  ago  near  the  present  site 
of  Palmyra,  between  the  Lamanites  and  the  Nephites  —  the 
former  being  the  heathen  and  the  latter  the  Christians  of  this 
continent.  In  this  battle,  in  which  hundreds  of  thousands 
were  slain,  the  Nephites  perished  from  the  earth,  except  a 
remnant,  who  escaped  to  the  southern  country.  Among  this 
number  was  Mormon,  a  righteous  man  who  was  divinely 
directed  to  make  a  record  of  these  important  events  on  plates 
of  gold,  and  who  buried  them  in  the  earth,  to  be  discovered 
in  future  times.  'The  Book  of  Mormon'  —  none  other  than 
the  religious  romance  above  mentioned  —  is  the  pretended 
translation  of  the  hieroglyphics  said  to  have  been  inscribed  on 
the  golden  plates. 

"The  account  given  of  himself  by  the  ' prophet '  is  of  far 
different  tenor  from  the  one  just  given.  While  yet  a  youth 
he  became  greatly  concerned  in  regard  to  his  soul's  salvation; 
and  being  deeply  agonized  in  spirit,  he  sought  divine  guidance. 
While  fervently  engaged  in  supplication,  his  mind  was  taken 
away  from  the  surrounding  objects  and  enwrapped  in  a  heavenly 
vision,  and  he  saw  two  glorious  personages  similar  in  form  and 
features  and  surrounded  with  a  brilliant  light,  outshining  the 
sun  at  noonday.  He  was  then  informed  by  these  glorious  per 
sonages  that  all  religious  denominations  were  in  error,  and  were 
not  acknowledged  of  God  as  His  church  and  kingdom,  and  that 


800          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

he,  Joseph,  was  expressly  commanded  not  to  go  after  them. 
At  the  same  time,  he  received  a  promise  that  the  fulness  of  the 
Gospel  should  at  some  future  time  be  known  to  him." 

Subsequently,  on  the  evening  of  September  23, 1823,  at  the 
hour  of  six,  while  he  was  engaged  in  prayer,  suddenly  a  light 
like  that  of  day,  only  far  more  pure  and  glorious,  burst  into 
the  room,  as  though  the  house  were  filled  with  fire,  and  a  per 
sonage  stood  before  him  surrounded  with  a  glory  far  greater 
than  he  had  yet  seen.  This  messenger  proclaimed  himself 
to  be  an  angel  of  God,  sent  with  the  joyful  tidings  that  the 
covenant  which  God  had  made  with  ancient  Israel  was  about 
to  be  fulfilled;  that  the  preparatory  work  for  the  second  com 
ing  of  Messiah  was  speedily  to  commence;  that  the  time  was 
at  hand  for  the  Gospel  to  be  proclaimed  in  all  its  fulness  and 
power  to  all  nations,  to  the  end  that  a  peculiar  people  might 
be  prepared  for  the  millennial  reign.  He  was  further  informed 
that  he,  Joseph,  was  to  be  the  instrument  in  God's  hand  to  bring 
about  this  glorious  dispensation.  The  angel  also  informed  him 
in  regard  to  the  American  Indians,  who  they  were,  and  whence 
they  came,  with  a  sketch  of  their  origin,  progress,  civilization, 
righteousness,  and  iniquity,  and  why  the  blessing  of  God 
had  been  withdrawn  from  them  as  a  people.  He  was  also 
told  where  certain  plates  were  deposited,  whereon  were  en 
graved  the  records  of  the  ancient  prophets,  who  once  existed 
on  this  continent.  And  then,  to  wit,  on  the  last  day  men 
tioned,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  delivered  into  his  hands  the  rec- 
cords  mentioned,  which  were  engraved  on  plates  which  had 
the  appearance  of  gold.  They  were  filled  with  engrav 
ings  in  Egyptian  characters  and  bound  together  in  a  volume 
as  the  leaves  of  a  book;  with  the  records  was  found  a  curious 
instrument  which  the  ancients  called  "Urim  and  Thummim," 
which  consisted  of  two  transparent  stones  set  in  the  rim  of 
a  bow  fastened  to  a  breastplate.  By  the  instrumentality 
of  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  Joseph  was  enabled  to  trans 
late  the  hieroglyphics  aforementioned. 

Thus  translated,  the  records  mentioned  became  "The 
Book  of  Mormon."  The  last  of  the  ancient  prophets  ha& 
inscribed  these  records  upon  the  golden  plates  by  the  com- 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         201 

mand  of  God,  and  deposited  them  in  the  earth,  where,  fifteen 
centuries  later,  they  were  divinely  revealed  to  Joseph  Smith. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  the  golden  plates  are  still  in  exist 
ence,  but  that  after  being  translated  by  Joseph  Smith,  by  the 
aid  of  the  wonderful  instrument  mentioned,  they  were  re- 
delivered  to  the  angel.  The  non-production  of  the  plates 
thus  satisfactorily  explained,  and  secondary  evidence  being 
admissible,  eleven  witnesses  appeared  and  testified  to  hav 
ing  actually  seen  the  plates;  three  of  the  number  further  de 
claring  that  they  were  present  when  Joseph  received  the 
plates  at  the  hands  of  the  angel. 

Upon  my  giving  expression,  to  a  high  Mormon  official,  of 
some  lingering  doubts  as  to  the  absolute  authenticity  of  the 
above  narrative,  I  was  significantly  reminded  of  the  words 
of  the  immortal  bard: 

"  Disparage  not  the  faith  thou  dost  not  know, 
Lest,  to  thy  peril,  thou  aby  it  dear." 

At  all  events,  upon  the  pretended  revelations  mentioned, 
Joseph  Smith  as  "prophet"  founded  the  Church  of  the  Lat 
ter-Day  Saints,  near  Palmyra,  New  York,  in  1830.  Nor  did 
he  lack  for  followers.  The  eleven  witnesses  mentioned,  and 
others,  were  commissioned  and  sent  forth  to  proclaim  the 
new  gospel,  and  disciples  in  large  numbers  soon  flocked  to 
the  standard  of  the  "prophet." 

The  history  of  delusions  from  the  days  of  Mahomet  to  the 
present  time  illustrates  the  eagerness  with  which  men  are 
ever  ready  to  seek  out  new  inventions,  and  to  discard  the 
old  beliefs  for  the  new.  There  is  no  tenet  so  monstrous  but 
in  some  breast  it  will  find  lodgment. 

"  In  religion 

What  damned  error,  but  some  sober  brow 
Will  bless  it  and  approve  it  with  a  text." 

In  1833,  Mormon  colonies  were  established  in  Kirtland, 
Ohio,  and  in  Jackson  County,  Missouri,  but,  owing  to  Gen 
tile  persecution,  the  " saints"  at  length  shook  the  dust  of 
those  unhallowed  localities  from  their  feet,  and  settled  in 
large  numbers  in  Hancock  County,  Illinois.  Here  they  built 


202          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Nauvoo,  the  "Holy  City,"  "the  beautiful  habitation  for  man." 
The  Mormon  historian  says:  "The  surrounding  lands  were 
purchased  by  the  saints,  and  a  town  laid  out,  which  was 
named  '  Nauvoo '  from  the  Hebrew,  which  signifies  fair, 
very  beautiful,  and  it  actually  fills  the  definition  of  the 
words,  for  nature  has  not  formed  a  parallel  anywhere  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi." 

The  sacred  city,  as  it  was  called,  soon  contained  a  pop 
ulation  of  fifteen  thousand  souls,  gathered  from  all  quarters 
of  the  globe.  Here  were  built  the  home  of  the  prophet,  the 
hall  of  the  seventies,  a  concert  hall,  and  other  public  insti 
tutions.  Chief  among  these  buildings  was  the  Temple, 
described  by  the  same  historian  as  "glistening  in  white 
limestone  upon  the  hilltops,  a  shrine  in  the  wilderness 
whereat  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  may  worship,  whereat 
all  the  people  may  inquire  of  God  and  receive  His  holy 
oracles." 

This  temple,  erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  a  million  dollars, 
was  at  a  later  day  visited  by  Governor  Reynolds,  and  is  thus 
described  by  him: 

"I  was  in  the  Mormon  temple  at  Nauvoo.  It  was  a  large 
and  splendid  edifice,  built  in  the  Egyptian  style  of  architecture; 
and  its  grandeur  and  magnificence  truly  astonished  me.  It 
was  erected  on  the  top  of  the  Mississippi  bluff,  which  has  a  pros- 
spect  which  reached  as  far  as  the  eye  could  extend  over  the  coun 
try  and  up  and  down  the  river.  The  most  singular  appendage 
of  this  splendid  edifice  was  the  font  in  which  the  immersion  of 
the  saints  was  practised.  It  was  composed  of  marble." 

At  the  time  of  the  Mormon  emigration  to  Illinois,  in  1839, 
the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  in  the  State  were  in  a  heated 
struggle  for  supremacy.  The  respective  party  leaders  at 
once  realized  that  the  new  importation  of  voters  might  be 
the  controlling  political  factor  in  the  State.  To  conciliate 
the  Mormons  and  gain  their  support  soon  became  the  aim  of 
the  politicians.  This  fact  is  the  keynote  to  the  statement 
of  Governor  Ford: 

"  A  city  charter  drawn  up  to  suit  the  Mormons  was  presented 
to  the  Legislature.  No  one  opposed  it,  but  both  parties  were 
active  in  getting  it  through.  This  charter,  and  others  passed 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS          203 

in  the  same  manner,  incorporated  Nauvoo,  provided  for  the 
election  of  a  mayor,  four  aldermen,  and  nine  councillors,  and 
gave  them  power  to  pass  all  ordinances  necessary  for  the  benefit 
of  the  city  which  were  not  repugnant  to  the  Constitution.  This 
seemed  to  give  them  power  to  pass  ordinances  in  violation  of  the 
laws  of  the  State,  and  to  erect  a  system  of  government  for  them 
selves.  This  charter  also  incorporated  the  Nauvoo  Legion, — 
entirely  independent  of  the  military  organization  of  the  State, 
and  not  subject  to  the  commands  of  its  officers.  Provision  was 
also  made  for  a  court-martial  for  the  Legion,  to  be  composed 
of  its  own  officers;  and  in  the  exercise  of  their  duties  they  were 
not  bound  to  regard  the  laws  of  the  State.  Thus  it  was  proposed 
to  establish  for  the  Mormons  a  Government  within  a  Govern 
ment,  a  Legislature  with  power  to  pass  ordinances  at  war  with 
the  laws  of  the  State.  These  charters  were  unheard  of,  anti- 
republican  and  capable  of  infinite  abuse.  The  great  law  of  the 
separation  of  the  powers  of  government  was  wholly  disregarded. 
The  mayor  was  at  once  the  executive  power,  the  judiciary,  and 
part  of  the  Legislature.  One  would  have  thought  that  these 
charters  stood  a  poor  chance  of  passing  the  Legislature  of  a  re 
publican  people,  jealous  of  their  liberties,  nevertheless  they  did 
pass  both  Houses  unanimously.  Each  party  was  afraid  to 
object  to  them,  for  fear  of  losing  the  Mormon  vote." 

Some  indications  of  the  hopes  and  fears  of  party  leaders 
may  be  gleaned  from  the  statement  of  the  politic  John  Rey 
nolds,  then  a  representative  in  Congress.  He  thus  speaks 
of  the  visit  of  Joseph  Smith  to  the  national  capital : 

"  I  had  recently  received  letters  that  Smith  was  a  very  impor 
tant  character  in  Illinois,  and  to  give  him  the  civilities  that  were 
due  him.  He  stood  at  the  time  fair  and  honorable,  except  his 
fanaticism  on  religion.  The  sympathies  of  the  people  were  in 
his  favor.  It  fell  to  my  lot  to  introduce  him  to  the  President, 
and  one  morning  the  Prophet  Smith  and  I  called  at  the  White 
House  to  see  the  chief  magistrate.  When  we  were  about  to 
enter  the  apartments  of  President  Van  Buren,  the  prophet  asked 
me  to  introduce  him  as  a  Latter-day  Saint.  It  was  so  unexpected 
and  so  strange  to  me  that  I  could  scarcely  believe  he  would  urge 
such  nonsense  on  this  occasion  to  the  President.  But  he  repeated 
the  request,  and  I  introduced  him  as  a  Latter-day  Saint,  which 
made  the  President  smile.  The  Prophet  remained  in  Washington 
a  greater  part  of  the  winter,  and  preached  often.  I  became  well 
acquainted  with  him.  He  was  a  person  rather  larger  than  ordi 
nary  stature,  well  proportioned,  and  would  weigh  about  one 
hundred  and  eighty  pounds.  He  was  rather  fleshy,  but  was  in 


*04  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

his  appearance,  amiable  and  benevolent.  He  did  not  appear  to 
possess  barbarity  in  his  nature,  nor  to  possess  that  great  talent 
and  boundless  mind  that  would  enable  him  to  accomplish  the 
wonders  he  performed." 

Referring  again  to  the  narrative  of  Ford : 

"Joseph  Smith  was  duly  installed  Mayor  of  Nauvoo  —  this 
Imperium  in  Imperio  —  he  was  ex-officio  Judge  of  the  Mayor's 
court,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Municipal  court;  and  in  this 
capacity  he  was  to  interpret  the  laws  he  had  assisted  to  make. 
The  Nauvoo  Legion  was  organized  with  a  multitude  of  high 
officers.  It  was  divided  into  divisions,  brigades,  cohorts,  battal 
ions,  and  companies;  and  Joseph  Smith  as  Lieutenant-General 
was  the  Commander-in-Chief.  The  common  council  of  Nauvoo 
passed  many  ordinances  for  the  punishment  of  crime.  The 
punishment  was  generally  different  from,  and  much  more  severe 
than,  that  provided  by  the  laws  of  the  State." 

That  any  Legislature  would  ever,  under  any  stress  of  cir 
cumstances,  have  conferred  —  or  have  attempted  to  confer  — 
such  powers  upon  a  municipality  is  beyond  comprehension. 
The  statement,  if  unsustained  by  the  official  State  records, 
would  now  challenge  belief. 

Under  the  favorable  conditions  mentioned,  the  Mormons 
were  now  upon  the  high  wave  of  prosperity  in  Illinois. 
Their  number  had  increased  to  more  than  twenty  thousand 
in  Hancock  and  the  counties  adjoining.  The  owners  of  large 
tracts  of  valuable  land,  protected  by  legislation  that  finds 
no  parallel  in  any  State,  courted  by  the  leaders  of  both 
parties,  and  actually  holding  for  a  time  the  balance  of 
political  power  in  the  State  —  they  seemed  indeed  to  be  "  the 
chosen  people,"  as  claimed  by  their  prophet. 

It  needed  no  prophet,  however,  to  foretell  that  this  could 
not  long  continue.  The  Mormon  leaders  failed  to  realize 
that  to  champion  the  cause  of  either  party  would  of  necessity 
arouse  the  fierce  hostility  of  the  other,  as  in  very  truth  it 
did.  Politics,  the  prime  cause  of  fortune's  favors  to  them  in 
the  beginning,  proved  their  undoing  in  the  end. 

Joseph  Smith  had,  soon  after  his  removal  from  Missouri, 
been  arrested  upon  a  requisition  from  the  Governor  of  that 
State.  From  this  arrest  he  was  discharged  when  brought 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         205 

upon  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  Judge  Pope,  a  Whig. 
The  ground  of  the  decision  was,  that  as  Smith  was  not  in 
Missouri  at  the  time  of  the  attempt  upon  the  life  of  Gov 
ernor  Boggs,  and  that  whatever  he  did  —  if  he  did  anything 
— to  aid  or  encourage  the  attempt,  was  done  in  Illinois,  and 
not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Missouri  laws,  he  was  not  a 
fugitive  from  justice  within  the  provision  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  The  decision  excited  much  comment 
at  the  time,  but,  as  stated  by  Judge  Blodgett,  it  "has  borne 
the  test  of  criticism,  and  is  now  the  accepted  rule  of  law  in 
interstate  extradition  cases." 

This  for  a  time  inclined  the  Mormons  to  the  support  of 
the  Whig  party.  Again  arrested,  the  prophet,  under  similiar 
proceedings,  was  discharged  by  a  Democratic  Judge.  This, 
as  Governor  Ford  says, 

"  Induced  Smith  to  issue  a  proclamation  to  his  followers  de 
claring  Judge  Douglas  to  be  a  master  spirit,  and  exhorting  them 
to  vote  for  the  Democratic  ticket  for  Governor.  Smith  was  too 
ignorant  to  know  whether  he  owed  his  discharge  to  the  law  or 
to  party  favor.  Such  was  the  ignorance  of  the  Mormons  gener 
ally,  that  they  thought  anything  to  be  law  which  they  thought 
expedient.  All  action  of  the  Government  unfavorable  to  them 
they  looked  upon  as  wantonly  oppressive,  and  when  the  law  was 
administered  in  their  favor  they  attributed  it  to  partiality  and 
kindness." 

The  last  hope  of  the  Whigs  for  Mormon  support  was 
abandoned  in  1843.  In  the  district  of  which  Hancock 
County  was  a  part,  the  opposing  candidates  for  Congress 
were  Joseph  P.  Hoge,  Democrat,  and  Cyrus  Walker,  Whig, 
both  lawyers  of  distinction.  The  latter  had  been  counsel 
for  Smith  in  the  Habeas  Corpus  proceedings  last  mentioned. 
Grateful  for  the  services  then  rendered,  Smith  openly  espoused 
the  candidacy  of  Walker  in  the  pending  contest.  That  there 
were  tricks  in  politics  even  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  will  now 
appear.  One  Backinstos,  a  politician  of  Hancock  County, 
declared  upon  his  return  from  the  State  capital  that  he  had 
assurances  from  the  Governor  that  the  Mormons  would  be 
amply  protected  as  long  as  they  voted  the  Democratic  ticket. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  Governor  denied 


206          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

having  given  any  such  assurance.  However,  the  campaign  lie 
of  Backinstos,  like  many  of  its  kind  before  and  since,  proved 
a  "  good  enough  Morgan  till  after  the  election."  This,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  before  the  days  of  railroads  and  tele 
graphs,  and  the  Mormon  settlement  was  far  remote  from 
the  seat  of  government.  A  partisan  jumble,  in  which  the 
"  saints "  were  the  participants,  and  the  low  arts  of  the 
demagogues  and  pretended  revelations  from  God  the  chief 
ingredients,  is  thus  described  by  the  historian  just  quoted: 

"The  mission  of  Backinstos  produced  an  entire  change  in 
the  minds  of  the  Mormon  leaders.  They  now  resolved  to  drop 
their  friend  Walker  and  take  up  Hoge,  the  Democratic  candidate. 
A  great  meeting  of  several  thousand  Mormons  was  held  the  Satur 
day  before  the  election.  Hiram  Smith,  patriarch  and  brother 
of  the  prophet,  appeared  in  this  assembly  and  there  solemnly 
announced  to  the  people,  that  God  had  revealed  to  him  that  the 
Mormons  must  support  Mr.  Hoge.  William  Law,  another  leader, 
next  appeared  and  denied  that  the  Lord  had  made  any  such 
revelation.  He  stated  that  to  his  certain  knowledge  the  prophet 
Joseph  was  in  favor  of  Mr.  Walker,  and  that  the  prophet  was 
more  likely  to  know  the  mind  of  the  Lord  than  the  patriarch. 
Hiram  again  repeated  his  revelation,  with  a  greater  tone  of 
authority,  but  the  people  remained  in  doubt  until  the  next  day, 
Sunday,  when  the  prophet  Joseph  himself  appeared  before  the 
assemblage.  He  there  stated  that  he  himself  was  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Walker  and  intended  to  vote  for  him;  that  he  would  not, 
if  he  could,  influence  any  man  in  giving  his  vote;  that  he  con 
sidered  it  a  mean  business  for  any  man  to  dictate  to  the  people 
whom  they  should  vote  for;  that  he  had  heard  his  brother  Hiram 
had  received  a  revelation  from  the  Lord  on  the  subject;  but  for 
his  own  part,  he  did  not  much  believe  in  revelations  on  the  sub 
ject  of  elections.  Brother  Hiram  was,  however,  a  man  of  truth; 
he  had  known  him  intimately  ever  since  he  was  a  boy,  and  he 
had  never  known  him  to  tell  a  lie.  If  brother  Hiram  said  he  had 
received  a  revelation  he  had  no  doubt  he  had.  When  the  Lord 
speaks  let  all  the  earth  be  silent." 

That  the  prophet  Joseph  well  understood  how  to 
"By  indirections  find  directions  out/' 

clearly  appears  from  his  cunning  expression  of  faith  in  the 
pretended  revelation  of  the  patriarch  Hiram.  The  effect 
of  this  speech  was  far-reaching.  It  turned  the  entire  Mor- 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         207 

mon  vote  to  Hoge,  thereby  securing  his  election  to  Congress, 
and  at  once  placed  the  Whigs  in  the  ranks  of  the  implacable 
anti-Mormon  party  then  in  process  of  rapid  formation.  The 
crusade  that  now  began  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons 
from  the  State,  was  greatly  augmented  by  acts  of  unparalleled 
folly  upon  their  own  part.  In  order  to  protect  their  leaders 
from  arrest,  it  was  decreed  by  the  City  Council  of  Nauvoo 
that  no  writ  unless  issued  and  approved  by  its  Mayor  .should 
be  executed  within  the  sacred  city,  and  that  any  officer  at 
tempting  to  execute  a  writ  otherwise  issued,  within  the  city, 
should  be  subject  to  imprisonment  for  life,  and  that  the  par 
doning  power  of  the  Governor  of  the  State  was  in  such  cases 
suspended.  This  ordinance  when  published  created  great 
astonishment  and  indignation.  The  belief  became  general 
that  the  Mormons  were  about  to  set  up  for  themselves  a 
separate  Government  wholly  independent  of  that  of  the  State. 
This  belief  was  strengthened  by  the  presentation  of  a  peti 
tion  to  Congress  praying  for  the  establishment  of  a  Territorial 
Government  for  Nauvoo  and  vicinity. 

Apparently  oblivious  of  the  gathering  storm,  Joseph 
Smith  early  in  1844  committed  his  crowning  act  of  folly  by 
announcing  himself  a  candidate  for  the  high  office  of  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  Not  only  this,  but  as  stated  by 
Governor  Ford, 

"  Smith  now  conceived  the  idea  of  making  himself  a  temporal 
Prince  as  well  as  the  spiritual  leader  of  his  people.  He  instituted 
a  new  and  select  order  of  the  priesthood,  the  members  of  which 
were  to  be  priests  and  kings,  temporal  and  spiritual.  These 
were  to  be  the  nobility,  the  upholders  of  his  throne.  He  caused 
himself  to  be  crowned  and  anointed  king  and  priest  far  above  all 
others.  To  uphold  his  pretensions  to  royalty,  he  deduced  his 
descent  by  an  unbroken  chain  from  Joseph,  the  son  of  Jacob, 
and  that  of  his  wife  from  some  other  renowned  personage  of 
Old  Testament  history.  The  Mormons  openly  denounced  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  as  being  utterly  corrupt,  and 
about  to  pass  away  and  be  replaced  by  the  government  of  God, 
to^be  administered  by  his  servant  Joseph.  It  is  at  this  day  cer 
tain,  also,  that  about  this  time,  the  prophet  instituted  an  order 
in  the  Church  called  the  Danite  Band.  This  was  to  be  a  body 
guard  about  the  person  of  their  sovereign,  sworn  to  obey  his 
commands  as  those  of  God  himself." 


208  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

During  late  years  a  war  of  words  has  been  waged  within 
the  Mormon  Church  over  the  question  of  the  responsibility 
of  the  prophet  Joseph  for  the  introduction  of  polygamy  as  a 
cardinal  tenet  of  its  creed.  The  son  of  the  prophet,  it  will 
be  remembered,  led  a  revolt  against  Brigham  Young,  soon 
after  the  succession  of  the  latter  to  the  presidency  of  the 
Church,  and  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  Mormon  establishment 
at  Piano,  Illinois.  This  branch  of  the  Church  rejects  the 
dogma  of  polygamy,  declaring  it  to  be  utterly  repugnant  to 
the  divine  revelation  to  Joseph,  and  to  early  Mormon  belief 
and  practice. 

Upon  the  contrary,  the  main  body  in  Utah  —  of  which 
Joseph  F.  Smith  the  nephew  of  the  prophet  and  son  of  Hiram 
the  patriarch  is  now  the  president  —  found  their  belief  in  the 
divine  character  of  their  peculiar  institution  upon  alleged 
revelations  direct  from  God  to  the  founder  of  the  Church. 
The  statement  of  Governor  Ford,  written  nearly  sixty  years 
ago,  sheds  some  light  upon  this  controversy: 

"  A  doctrine  was  now  revealed  that  no  woman  could  get  to 
heaven  except  as  the  wife  of  a  Mormon  elder.  The  elders  were 
allowed  to  have  as  many  of  these  wives  as  they  could  maintain; 
and  it  was  a  doctrine  of  the  Church  that  any  female  could  be 
'  sealed  up  to  eternal  life  *  by  uniting  herself  as  wife  to  the  elder 
of  her  choice.  This  doctrine  was  maintained  by  appeal  to  the 
Old  Testament  scriptures  and  by  the  example  of  Abraham  and 
Jacob  and  Daniel  and  Solomon,  the  favorites  of  God  in  a  former 
age  of  the  world." 

As  the  necessary  result  of  the  causes  mentioned,  the  fol 
lowers  of  the  prophet  soon  found  themselves  bitterly  antag 
onized  by  almost  the  whole  anti-Mormon  population  of  the 
"  Military  Tract."  Charges  and  counter-charges  were  made, 
the  arrest  of  the  leaders  of  the  opposing  parties  followed  in 
rapid  succession,  and  outrages  and  riots  were  of  daily  occur 
rence.  Public  meetings  were  held;  all  the  crimes  known 
to  the  calendar  were  charged  against  the  Mormons,  and  reso 
lutions  passed  demanding  their  immediate  expulsion  from 
the  State.  What  is  known  in  Illinois  history  as  the  "Mor 
mon  war"  followed  closely  in  the  wake  of  the  events  just 
mentioned.  Innocent  persons  were,  in  many  instances,  the 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         209 

victims  of  the  folly  and  of  the  crimes  of  unprincipled 
and  brutal  leaders. 

The  events  of  this  period  constitute  a  dark  chapter  in 
the  history  of  the  State  —  one  that  can  be  recalled  only  with 
feelings  of  horror.  The  great  body  of  citizens,  it  is  needless 
to  say,  favored  the  rigid  maintenance  of  order  and  the  pro 
tection  of  life  and  property;  but  it  was  the  very  heyday  for 
the  lawless  and  vicious  element  of  all  parties. 

That  this  condition  of  affairs  could  not  long  continue 
was  manifest.  The  bloody  termination,  however,  came  in  a 
manner  unexpected  to  all.  Two  of  the  Mormon  leaders, 
William  and  Wilson  Law,  were,  at  the  time  mentioned, 
in  open  revolt  against  the  newly-assumed  powers  and  the 
alleged  practices  of  the  prophet.  To  strengthen  their  oppo 
sition  they  procured  a  printing-press  and  equipment,  and 
issued  from  their  office  in  Nauvoo  one  number  of  a  small 
weekly,  "  The  Expositor."  By  order  of  the  Mayor,  Smith, 
and  decree  of  the  Council,  the  press  was  seized  and  destroyed, 
and  the  Law  brothers  and  their  few  adherents  compelled  to 
flee  the  Holy  City.  Immediately  upon  their  arrival  at  Car 
thage,  they  caused  warrants  to  be  issued  for  the  arrest  of 
Joseph  and  Hiram  Smith,  John  Taylor,  and  others,  for  the 
destruction  of  the  printing-press.  The  almost  sovereign 
powers  previously  conferred  upon  the  city  of  Nauvoo  now 
play  an  important  part  in  this  drama.  The  persons  arrested, 
as  above  mentioned,  were  at  once  brought  by  writs  of  habeas 
corpus,  issued  by  the  Mayor  of  Nauvoo,  before  the  Municipal 
Court  and  there  promptly  discharged.  Governor  Ford, 
whose  righteous  soul  had  been  vexed  to  the  limit  of  endurance 
by  unmerited  abuse  from  Mormon  and  Gentile  alike  from 
the  beginning  of  this  controversy,  here  indulges  in  a  few 
expressions  of  justifiable  irony.  Of  these  proceedings  he 


"  It  clearly  appeared  both  from  the  complaints  of  the  citi 
zens  and  the  admissions  of  the  Mormons,  that  the  whole  proceed 
ings  of  the  Mayor,  Council,  and  Municipal  Court  were  illegal  and 
not  to  be  endured  in  a  free  country;  but  some  apology  might  be 
made  for  the  court,  as  it  had  been  repeatedly  assured  by  some 
of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  State  of  both  political  parties,  when 


210  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

candidates  before  that  people,  that  it  had  full  and  complete  power 
to  issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus  in  all  cases  whatever." 

"  In  law,  what  plea  so  tainted  and  corrupt, 
But,  being  seasoned  with  a  gracious  voice, 
Obscures  the  show  of  evil." 

The  incidents  mentioned  added  quickly  fuel  to  the  flame. 
A  new  warrant  was  issued  by  a  magistrate  in  Carthage  for 
the  arrest  of  the  Mormon  leaders  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 
an  officer  of  the  State  for  execution.  The  latter  at  once 
summoned  the  citizens  of  the  county,  as  a  posse  comitatus, 
to  aid  in  the  arrests.  At  this  critical  moment  Governor  Ford, 
in  the  interest  of  peace,  reached  Carthage,  the  county  seat. 
Upon  his  arrival  he  found  the  situation  truly  alarming. 
Several  hundred  armed  men  from  the  country  around  had 
hastily  assembled  and  were  encamped  upon  the  public  square. 
By  order  of  the  Governor,  this  force  was  organized  into  com 
panies  and  placed  under  the  immediate  command  of  officers 
of  his  appointment.  At  the  conclusion  of  a  speech  by  the 
Governor,  the  officers  and  men  pledged  themselves  to  aid  him 
in  upholding  the  laws,  and  in  protecting  the  Mormon  pris 
oners  when  brought  to  Carthage  for  trial. 

Meanwhile,  Smith  as  lieutenant-general  had  called  out 
the  Nauvoo  Legion  and  proclaimed  martial  law  in  that  city. 
The  Mormons  from  the  country  promptly  obeyed  the  call 
of  their  leader  and  marched  to  his  assistance,  and  Nauvoo 
became  at  once  a  vast  military  camp.  Governor  Ford  now 
demanded  of  the  Mormon  leaders  the  return  of  the  State  arms 
furnished  at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Legion,  this 
demand,  if  not  promptly  complied  with,  to  be  enforced  by 
an  immediate  attack  upon  Nauvoo  by  the  assembled  forces 
encamped  at  Carthage. 

Appreciating  now  for  the  first  time  the  hopelessness  of  a 
conflict  with  the  State  authorities,  a  number  of  the  weapons 
were  surrendered  and  the  Smiths,  accompanied  by  Taylor 
and  Richards,  two  other  Mormon  leaders,  went  to  Carthage 
and  surrendered  themselves  to  the  officer  holding  the  war 
rant  for  their  arrest.  Upon  giving  bond  for  their  appearance, 
they  were  at  once  released  on  charge  of  riot.  A  new  com- 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         211 

plaint,  charging  them  with  treason  —  in  levying  war  against 
the  State,  declaring  martial  law  in  Nauvoo,  and  ordering 
out  the  Legion  to  resist  the  execution  of  lawful  process  — 
was  immediately  lodged  against  them,  a  warrant  duly  issued, 
the  prisoners  rearrested  and  committed  to  the  common  jail 
of  the  county.  On  the  evening  following  this  arrest,  the 
guards  stationed  at  the  jail  for  the  protection  of  the  prisoners 
were  attacked  and  overpowered  by  a  mob  of  several  hundred 
persons.  Governor  Ford  states: 

"An  attempt  was  now  made  to  break  open  the  door;  but 
Joseph  Smith,  being  armed  with  a  six-barrel  pistol  furnished  by 
his  friends,  fired  several  times  as  the  door  was  burst  open  and 
wounded  three  of  the  assailants.  At  the  same  time,  several 
shots  were  fired  into  the  room,  wounding  John  Taylor  and  killing 
Hiram  Smith.  Joseph  Smith  now  attempted  to  escape  by  jump 
ing  out  of  the  second-story  window;  but  the  fall  so  stunned  him 
that  he  was  unable  to  rise,  and  being  placed  by  the  conspirators 
in  a  sitting  posture,  they  despatched  him  by  four  balls  shot 
through  his  body." 

Thus  perished,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  the  founder  and 
prophet  of  the  Mormon  Church.  Contradictory  statements 
as  to  his  real  character  have  come  down  to  the  present 
generation.  The  estimate  of  Governor  Ford,  who  knew  him 
well,  is  as  follows: 

"He  was  the  most  successful  impostor  in  modern  times;  a 
man  who,  though  ignorant  and  coarse,  had  some  great  natural 
parts  which  fitted  him  for  temporary  success,  but  which  were  so 
obscured  and  counteracted  by  the  inherent  corruptness  of  his 
nature  that  he  never  could  succeed  in  establishing  a  system  of 
policy  which  looked  to  permanent  success  in  the  future.  It  must 
not  be  supposed  that  the  pretended  prophet  practised  the  tricks 
of  a  common  impostor;  that  he  was  a  dark  and  gloomy  person 
with  a  long  beard,  a  grave  and  severe  aspect,  and  a  reserved  and 
saintly  carriage  of  his  person.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  full  of 
levity,  even  to  boyish  romping;  dressed  like  a  dandy,  and  at 
times  drank  like  a  sailor  and  swore  like  a  pirate.  He  could,  as 
occasion  required,  be  exceedingly  meek  in  his  deportment,  and 
then,  again,  be  as  rough  and  boisterous  as  a  highway  robber; 
being  always  able  to  prove  to  his  followers  the  propriety  of  his 
conduct.  He  always  quailed  before  power,  and  was  arrogant  to 
weakness.  At  times  he  could  put  on  an  air  of  a  penitent,  as  if 
f eeling  the  deepest  humility  for  his  sins,  and  suffering  unutterable 


212  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

anguish,  and  indulging  in  the  most  gloomy  foreboding  of  eternal 
woe.  At  such  times  he  would  call  for  the  prayers  of  the  brethren 
in  his  behalf  with  a  wild  and  fearful  anxiety  and  earnestness. 
He  was  six  feet  high,  strongly  built,  and  uncommonly  full  mus 
cled.  No  doubt  he  was  as  much  indebted  for  his  influence  over 
an  ignorant  people  to  the  superiority  of  his  physical  vigor  as 
to  his  great  cunning  and  intellect." 

Of  a  wholly  different  tenor  is  the  tribute  of  Parley  P. 
Pratt,  the  poet  and  historian  of  the  Mormon  Church: 

"President  Smith  was  in  person  tall  and  well  built,  strong 
and  active;  of  a  light  complexion,  light  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  of 
an  expression  peculiar  to  himself,  on  which  the  eye  naturally 
rested  with  interest  and  was  never  weary  of  beholding.  His 
countenance  was  very  mild,  affable,  and  beaming  with  intelligence 
and  benevolence  mingled  with  a  look  of  interest  and  an  uncon 
scious  smile  of  cheerfulness,  and  entirely  free  from  all  restraint 
or  affectation  of  gravity;  and  there  was  something  connected 
with  the  serene  and  steady  penetrating  glance  of  his  eye,  as  if 
he  would  penetrate  the  deepest  abyss  of  the  human  heart,  gaze 
into  eternity,  penetrate  the  heavens,  and  comprehend  all  worlds. 
He  possessed  a  noble  boldness  and  independence  of  character; 
his  manner  was  easy  and  familiar,  his  rebuke  terrible  as  the 
lion,  his  benevolence  unbounded  as  the  ocean,  his  intelligence 
universal,  and  his  language  abounding  in  original  eloquence 
peculiar  to  himself." 

For  a  brief  period  following  the  assassination  of  the  Smiths, 
comparative  quiet  prevailed  in  the  Mormon  country.  The 
selection  of  a  successor  to  their  murdered  prophet,  was  now 
the  absorbing  question  among  the  Mormon  people.  Revela 
tions  were  published  that  the  prophet,  in  imitation  of  the 
Saviour,  was  to  rise  from  the  dead,  and  some  even  reported 
that  they  had  seen  him  attended  by  a  celestial  army  coursing 
the  air  on  a  great  white  horse. 

Sydney  Rigdon  now  aspired  to  be  the  head  of  the 
Church  as  the  successor  to  the  martyred  prophet.  His 
claims  were  verified  by  a  pretended  revelation  direct  from 
heaven.  He  was,  however,  at  once  antagonized  by  the  "  quo 
rum  of  the  Twelve,"  and  after  a  bitter  struggle,  Apostle  Brig- 
ham  Young  was  chosen,  and  Rigdon  expelled  from  the  Church 
and  "  given  over  to  the  buffetings  of  Satan." 

The  quiet  immediately  succeeding  the  tragedy  was  of 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS          213 

short  duration.  It  was  only  the  calm  which  precedes  the 
storm.  While  his  followers  were  invoking  the  vengeance  of 
the  law  upon  the  murderers  of  the  prophet,  the  anti-Mormons 
were  quietly  organizing  a  crusade  for  the  expulsion  of  the 
entire  Mormon  population  from  the  State.  The  trial  of  the 
assassins  of  the  Smiths  resulted  in  their  acquittal,  as  was  to 
have  been  expected  when  the  intense  anti-Mormon  feeling 
existing  throughout  the  immediate  country  is  taken  into 
account.  The  result  is  even  less  surprising  when  it  is  remem 
bered  that  the  principal  witness  for  the  prosecution  supple 
mented  his  testimony  of  having  seen  the  crime  committed, 
by  the  remarkable  declaration  that  immediately  upon  the 
death  of  Joseph,  "  a  bright  and  shining  light  descended  upon 
his  head,  that  several  of  the  conspirators  were  stricken  with 
total  blindness,  and  that  he  heard  supernatural  voices  in  the 
air  confirming  the  divine  mission  of  the  murdered  prophet." 
In  the  narration  of  these  exciting  events,  the  names  of  men 
who  at  a  later  day  achieved  national  distinction  frequently 
occur.  The  Hon.  0.  H.  Browning,  since  Senator  and  member 
of  the  Cabinet,  was  chief  counsel  for  the  alleged  murderers  of 
the  Smiths.  He  was  at  the  time  a  distinguished  Whig  leader, 
and  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  in  the  State.  The  disorder 
and  outrages  that  followed  the  acquittal  just  mentioned  called 
Governor  Ford  again  to  the  seat  of  war.  He  says: 

"  When  informed  of  these  proceedings,  I  hastened  to  Jack 
sonville,  where  in  a  conference  with  General  Hardin,  Judge 
Douglas,  and  Mr.  McDougal  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State, 
it  was  agreed  that  these  gentlemen  should  proceed  to  Hancock 
County  in  all  haste  with  whatever  force  had  been  raised,  and  put 
an  end  to  these  disorders.  It  was  also  agreed  that  they  should 
unite  their  influence  with  mine  to  induce  the  Mormons  to  leave 
the  State.  The  twelve  apostles  had  now  become  satisfied  that 
the  Mormons  could  not  remain,  or,  if  they  did,  that  the  leaders 
would  be  compelled  to  abandon  the  sway  they  exercised  over 
them.  Through  the  intervention  of  General  Hardin,  acting  on 
instructions  from  me,  an  agreement  was  made  between  the  hostile 
parties  for  the  voluntary  removal  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
Mormons  across  the  Mississippi  in  the  spring  of  1846." 

Of  the  advisers  of  the  Governor  in  the  adjustment  men 
tioned,  Douglas  and  McDougall  were  at  a  later  day  disth> 


214          SOMETHING  OP  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

guished  Senators,  respectively  from  Illinois  and  California; 
and  Hardin  was  killed  while  gallantly  leading  his  regiment 
at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista. 

To  the  peaceable  accomplishment  of  the  purposes  men 
tioned,  a  small  force  under  a  competent  officer  was  stationed 
for  a  time  in  Hancock  County.  The  Governor  justly  felici 
tates  himself  that  thereby  "  the  greater  part  of  the  Military 
Tract  was  saved  from  the  horrors  of  civil  war  in  the  winter 
time,  when  much  misery  would  have  followed  by  the  disper 
sion  of  families  and  the  destruction  of  property." 

The  Mormon  exodus  from  Illinois,  once  the  "land  of 
promise,"  now  began  in  terrible  earnest.  Many  farms  and 
homes  and  large  quantities  of  personal  effects  were  hastily 
disposed  of  at  a  great  sacrifice.  The  speeding  was  far  different 
from  the  welcome  but  a  few  years  before  so  heartily  extended 
to  the  incoming  " saints."  The  "Holy  City"  and  sacred 
temple  soon  to  be  destroyed  were  abandoned  for  perilous 
journeyings  in  the  wilderness.  The  chapter  that  immediately 
follows  in  the  history  of  this  people  is  indeed  pathetic.  The 
terrible  sufferings  of  the  aged  and  infirm,  of  helpless  women 
and  children,  as  the  shadows  of  the  long  night  of  winter  gath 
ered  about  them  on  their  journey,  can  never  be  adequately 
told.  But,  inspired  with  the  thought  that  they  were  the 
Israel  of  God,  that  Brigham  Young  was  their  divinely  appoint 
ed  leader,  that  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  of  fire  by  night 
ever  went  before  them  on  their  journeyings,  they  patiently 
endured  all  dangers  and  hardships. 

High  upon  the  western  slope  of  the  Wasatch  hard  by  the 
old  wagon  trail  which  led  down  into  the  valley  stands  a  huge 
rock  around  whose  base  the  Mormon  leader  assembled  his 
followers  just  as  the  last  rays  of  a  summer  sun  were  falling 
upon  the  mountains.  In  stirring  words  he  recalled  their 
persecutions  and  trials,  told  them  that  their  long  pilgrimage, 
the  weary  march  by  day  and  lonely  vigil  by  night,  were  now 
ended,  and  their  Canaan  the  great  valley  which  stretched  out 
before  them. 

Upon  a  visit  to  Salt  Lake  City  nearly  a  third  of  a  century 
ago,  I  attended  service  in  the  great  Tabernacle  when  it  was 


THE  MORMON  EXODUS  FROM  ILLINOIS         215 

filled  to  overflowing,  and  yet  so  excellent  were  its  acoustic 
arrangements  that  every  word  of  the  speaker  and  every  note 
of  the  organ  could  be  heard  distinctly.  The  surroundings 
were  indeed  imposing.  Upon  the  great  platform  sat  the 
President  and  his.  Council,  the  twelve  apostles,  the  seventy 
elders,  with  an  innumerable  army  of  bishops,  teachers,  deacons, 
and  other  functionaries  constituting  the  lower  order  of  the 
Mormon  hierarchy.  The  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  famous 
Orson  Pratt,  the  Saint  Paul  of  the  Mormon  Church,  a  venerable 
patriarch  of  four  score  years,  and  yet,  withal,  a  man  of  wonder 
ful  power. 

As  our  little  party  passed  in  front  of  the  speaker's  platform 
to  reach  the  door,  he  halted  in  his  discourse,  and  stated  to 
the  audience  that  the  strangers  within  their  gates  were  leaving 
because  of  the  near  departure  of  their  tram  and  not  because 
of  any  disrespect  to  the  service.  Then,  bowing  his  aged  head, 
he  invoked  the  blessing  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and 
of  Jacob,  upon  the  Gentile  strangers,  and  prayed  "that  their 
long  journey  might  be  ended  in  safety,  and  that  in  the  ful 
ness  of  time,  having  witnessed  the  manifestations  of  Almighty 
Power,  they  might  return  again,  not  as  sojourners,  but  as 
fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  to  dwell  in  the  Holy  City." 


XIV 
A   KENTUCKY   COLONEL 

COL.  WINTERSMITH'S  GREAT  POPULARITY  —  HIS  ADMIRATION  FOR 

MR.  CLAY  —  HIS  MARVELLOUS  MEMORY  —  HIS  WIT  AND  HUMOR. 

FEW  men  were  better  known  in  Washington,  a  quarter  of 
a  century  and  more  ago,  than  Colonel  Dick  Winter- 
smith  of  Kentucky.  He  had  creditably  filled  important 
positions  of  public  trust  in  his  native  State.  His  integrity 
was  beyond  question,  and  his  popularity  knew  no  bounds. 
Without  the  formality  of  party  nomination,  and  with  hardly 
the  shadow  of  opposition  at  the  polls,  he  had  held  the  office  of 
State  Treasurer  for  nearly  a  score  of  years.  An  ardent  Whig 
in  early  life,  he  was  a  devout  worshipper  at  the  shrine  of 
Henry  Clay.  In  the  later  years  of  his  life,  he  would  often 
with  the  deepest  emotion  refer  to  himself  as  "the  last  of  the 
old  guard."  He  never  tired  of  relating  interesting  incidents  of 
Mr.  Clay.  It  was  his  glory  that  he  had  accompanied  "the 
great  pacificator  "  to  Washington,  when,  with  the  fond  hope 
of  being  able  by  his  historic  "  compromise  "  to  pour  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters,  he  returned  to  the  Senate  for  the  last  time. 
Wintersmith  was  the  close  friend  of  Theodore  O'Hara, 
and  stood  beside  him  when  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument 
tor  the  Kentuckians  who  had  fallen  at  Buena  Vista  he  pro 
nounced  his  now  historic  lines  beginning  — 

"  On  fame's  eternal  camping-ground 
Their  silent  tents  are  spread." 

Colonel  Wintersmith  knew,  as  he  knew  his  children,  two 
generations  of  the  public  men  of  Kentucky.  His  memory  was 
a  marvel  to  all  who  knew  him.  He  could  repeat  till  the  dawn, 
extracts  from  famous  speeches  he  had  heard  from  the  lips  of 
Clay,  Grundy,  Marshall,  and  Menifee.  More  than  once,  I 
have  heard  him  declaim  the  wonderful  speech  of  Sargent  S. 
Prentiss  delivered  almost  a  half-century  before,  in  the  old 

216 


A  KENTUCKY  COLONEL  217 

Harrodsburg  Court-house,  in  defence  of  Wilkinson  for  kill 
ing  three  men  at  the  Gait  House. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  Colonel  was  the  soul 
of  generosity.  It  was  a  part  of  his  living  faith  that  — 

"Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets." 

That  he  was  possessed  in  no  stinted  measure  of  wit  and  its 
kindred  quality,  humor,  will  appear  from  an  incident  or  two 
to  be  related. 

The  Hon.  Ignatius  Donnelly,  member  of  Congress  from 
Minnesota,  had  written  a  book  to  prove  that  Lord  Bacon  was 
the  veritable  author  of  the  plays  usually  accredited  to  Shake 
speare.  Soon  after  the  appearance  of  Donnelly's  book,  he 
met  Colonel  Wintersmith  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 

After  a  cordial  greeting,  the  Colonel  remarked,  "I  have 
been  reading  your  book,  Donnelly,  and  I  don't  believe  a  word 
of  it." 

"  What?  "  inquired  Donnelly,  with  great  surprise. 

"Oh,  that  book  of  yours,"  said  the  Colonel,  "  in  which  you 
tried  to  prove  that  Shakespeare  never  wrote  'Hamlet'  and 
'Macbeth'  and  'Lear'  and  all  those  other  plays." 

"My  dear  sir,"  replied  Donnelly  with  great  earnestness, 
"I  can  prove  beyond  all  perad venture  that  Shakespeare 
never  wrote  those  plays." 

"He  did,"  replied  Wintersmith,  "he  did  write  them, 
Donnelly,  /  saw  him  write  three  or  four  of  them,  myself.11 

"Impossible!"  exclaimed  Donnelly,  who  was  as  guiltless 
of  anything  that  savored  of  humor  as  the  monument  recently 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Hon.  John  Sherman,  "  impossible, 
Colonel,  that  you  could  have  seen  Shakespeare  write  those 
plays;  they  were  written  three  hundred  years  ago." 

"Three  hundred  years,  three  hundred  years,"  slowly  mur 
mured  the  Colonel  in  pathetic  tone,  "  is  it  possible  that  it  has 
been  so  long?  Lord,  how  time  does  fly!" 

The  Colonel  often  told  the  following  with  a  gravity  that 
gave  it  at  least  the  semblance  of  truth.  Many  years  ago,  his 
State  was  represented  in  part  in  the  Upper  House  by  a 
statesman  who  rarely,  when  in  good  form,  spoke  less  than 


218  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

an  entire  day.  His  speeches,  in  large  measure,  usually  con 
sisted  of  dull  financial  details,  statistics,  etc.  He  became  in 
time  the  terror  of  his  associates,  and  the  nightmare  of  visitors 
in  the  galleries.  His  "Mr.  President,"  was  usually  the  sig 
nal  for  a  general  clearing  out  of  both  Senate  Chamber  and 
galleries. 

"Upon  one  occasion/'  said  Colonel  Dick,  "I  was  seated  in 
the  last  tier  in  the  public  gallery,  when  my  Senator  with 
books  and  documents  piled  high  about  him  solemnly  ad 
dressed  the  Chair.  As  was  the  wont,  the  visitors  in  the 
gallery  as  one  man  arose  to  make  their  exit.  With  a  re 
volver  in  each  hand,  I  promptly  planted  myself  in  front  of 
the  door,  and  in  no  uncertain  tone  ordered  the  crowd  to 
resume  their  seats,  and  remain  quietly  until  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  had  concluded  his  remarks.  They  did  so 
and  no  word  of  complaint  reached  my  ears.  Hour  after  hour 
during  the  long  summer  day  the  speech  drew  itself  along. 
At  length  as  the  shadows  were  lengthening  and  the  crickets 
began  to  chirp,  the  speech  ended  and  the  Senator  took  his 
seat.  I  promptly  replaced  my  pistols  and  motioned  the 
visitors  to  move  out.  They  did  so  on  excellent  time.  As  the 
last  man  was  passing  out,  he  quietly  remarked  to  me, 
"Mister,  that  was  all  right,  no  fault  to  find,  but  if  it  was  to 
do  over  again,  you  might  shoot." 


XV 

FORGOTTEN  EVENTS  OF  THE  LONG  AGO 

THE  WRITER   MEETS  MISS  GRAHAM,  SISTER-IN-LAW  OP  MR.   GILES, 

A     REPRESENTATIVE     IN     THE     DAYS     OP     WASHINGTON HIS 

MEETING     WITH     THE     DAUGHTER     OP     THOMAS     W.     GILMER, 

SECRETARY    OP    THE    NAVY    UNDER    PRESIDENT   TYLER THE 

SECRETARY  KILLED,  AND  THE  PRESIDENT  ENDANGERED  BY 
AN  EXPLOSION  —  SPECULATION  AS  TO  POSSIBLE  POLITICAL 
CHANGES  HAD  THE  PRESIDENT  BEEN  KILLED. 

DURING  my  sojourn  in  Washington  I  visited  the  "  Louise 
Home,"  one  of  the  splendid  charities  of  the  late  W.  W. 
Corcoran.  Two  of  the  ladies  I  there  met  were  Miss 
Graham  and  Miss  Gilmer.  The  turn  of  Fortune's  wheel  had 
brought  each  of  them  from  once  elegant  Virginia  homes  to 
spend  the  evening  of  life  in  the  Home  which  Mr.  Corcoran 
had  so  kindly  and  thoughtfully  provided.  It  was  in  very 
truth  the  welcome  retreat  to  representatives  of  old  Southern 
families  who  had  known  better  days.  Here  in  quiet  and 
something  of  elegant  leisure,  the  years  sped  by,  the  chief 
pastime  recalling  events  and  telling  over  again  and  again  the 
social  triumphs  of  the  long  ago.  Thus  lingering  in  the  shadows 
of  the  past,  sadly  reflecting,  it  may  be,  in  the  silent  watches, 
that  — 

"  The  tender  grace  of  a  day  that  is  dead 
Will  never  come  back  to  me," 

these  venerable  ladies  were  in  sad  reality  "  only  waiting  till  the 
shadows  had  a  little  longer  grown." 

There  was  something  pathetically  remindful  of  the  good 
old  Virginia  days  in  the  manner  in  which  Miss  Graham  handed 
me  her  card  and  invited  me  to  be  seated.  Looking  me  ear 
nestly  in  the  face,  she  said,  "Mr.  Vice-President,  you  must 
have  known  my  brother-in-law,  Governor  Giles." 

"Do  you  mean  Senator  William  B.  Giles  of  Virginia?" 
I  inquired. 

219 


220  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"Yes,  yes/'  she  said,  "did  you  know  him?" 

"No,  madam,"  I  replied,  "I  did  not;  he  was  a  member  of 
Congress  when  Washington  was  President;  that  was  a  little 
before  my  day.  But  is  it  possible  that  you  are  a  sister-in-law 
of  Governor  Giles?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  she  answered  ,"he  married  my  eldest  sister  and 
I  was  in  hopes  that  you  knew  him." 

I  assured  her  that  I  had  never  known  him  personally,  but 
that  I  knew  something  of  his  history:  that  he  was  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution;  that  he  began  his  public  career  with  the 
passing  of  the  old  Confederation  and  the  establishment  of  the 
National  Union;  that  as  Representative  or  Senator  he  was 
in  Congress  almost  continuously  from  the  administration  of 
Washington  to  that  of  Jackson.  I  then  repeated  to  her  the 
words  Mr.  Benton,  his  long-time  associate  in  the  Senate,  had 
spoken  of  her  brother-in-law:  "Macon  was  wise,  Randolph 
brilliant,  Gallatin  and  Madison  able  in  argument,  but  Giles 
was  the  ready  champion,  always  ripe  for  the  combat."  And 
I  told  her  that  John  Randolph,  for  many  years  his  colleague, 
had  said:  "Giles  was  to  our  House  of  Representatives  what 
Charles  James  Fox  was  to  the  British  House  of  Commons  — 
the  most  accomplished  debater  our  country  has  known." 

I  might  have  said  to  Miss  Graham,  but  did  not,  that  her 
brother-in-law,  then  a  member  of  the  House,  had  voted  against 
the  farewell  address  of  that  body  to  President  Washington 
upon  his  retirement  from  the  great  office.  Strange  indeed 
to  our  ears  sound  the  utterances  of  Representative  Giles! 
Strange  indeed  words  that  even  mildly  reflect  upon  the 
Father  of  his  Country.  Of  this,  however,  we  may  be  assured, 
that  the  Golden  Age  of  our  history  is  but  a  dream;  "the  era 
of  absolute  good  feeling,"  —  the  era  that  has  not  been. 

"  Past  and  to  come  seem  best; 
Things  present,  worst." 

Before  condemning  Mr.  Giles  too  severely  the  words  of 
Edmund  Burke  may  well  be  recalled:  "Party  divisions, 
whether  upon  the  whole  operating  for  the  best,  are  things 
inseparable  from  free  Government."  Party  divisions  came 


FORGOTTEN  EVENTS  OF  THE  LONG  AGO      221 

in  with  our  Constitution;    partisan  feeling  almost  with  our 
first  garments. 

In  this  connection  it  will  be  remembered  that  this  country 
has  known  no  period  of  more  intense  and  bitter  party  feeling 
than  during  the  administration  of  the  immediate  successor 
of  Washington,  the  period  which  witnessed  the  downfall  of 
the  Federal  party,  and  the  rise  of  the  party  of  Jefferson.  It 
was  after  the  election  but  before  the  inauguration  of  John 
Adams,  that  the  following  words  were  spoken  of  President 
Washington  by  the  brother-in-law  of  the  little  old  lady  to 
whom  I  have  referred : 

"  I  must  object  to  those  parts  of  the  address  which  speak  of 
the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  the  President.  I  may  be  singular 
in  my  ideas,  but  I  believe  his  administration  has  neither  been 
firm  nor  wise.  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  am  one  of  those  who 
do  not  think  so  much  of  the  President  as  some  others  do.  I 
wish  that  this  was  the  moment  of  his  retirement.  I  think  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  go  on  without  him. 
What  calamities  would  attend  the  United  States,  and  how  short 
the  duration  of  its  independence,  if  but  one  man  could  be  found 
fitted  to  conduct  its  administration!  Much  had  been  said  and 
by  many  people  about  the  President's  intended  retirement.  For 
my  own  part,  I  feel  no  uncomfortable  sensations  about  it." 

As  I  thus  recalled  the  man  whose  public  life  began  with 
that  of  Washington,  his  kinswoman  at  my  side  seemed  indeed 
the  one  living  bond  of  connection  between  the  present  and  the 
long  past,  that  past  which  had  witnessed  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  establish 
ment  of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  younger,  by  many  years,  of  the  two  ladies,  was  the 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Gilmer,  a  distinguished 
member  of  Congress  during  the  third  decade  of  the  century, 
later  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  The  mention  of  his  name  recalls 
a  tragic  event  that  cast  a  pall  over  the  nation  and  shrouded 
more  than  one  hearthstone  in  deepest  gloom.  During  later 
years,  the  horrors  of  an  internecine  struggle  that  knows  no 
parallel,  the  assassination  of  three  Presidents  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  thousand  casualties  that  have  crowded  in 


222  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

rapid  succession,  have  almost  wiped  from  memory  the  incident 
now  to  be  mentioned. 

The  pride  of  the  American  Navy,  the  man-of-war 
Princeton,  Commodore  Stockton  in  command,  was  lying 
in  the  Potomac  just  below  Washington,  on  the  morning 
of  February  28,  1843.  The  day  was  beautiful,  and  the  dis 
tinguished  commander,  who  had  known  much  of  gallant  ser 
vice,  had  invited  more  than  one  hundred  guests  to  accompany 
him  on  a  sail  to  a  point  a  few  miles  below  Mount  Vernon. 
Among  the  guests  were  President  Tyler  and  two  members  of 
his  Cabinet;  Mr.  Upshur,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  Gilmer, 
Secretary  of  the  Navy;  the  widow  of  Ex-President  Madison; 
Mr.  Gardner,  a  prominent  citizen  of  New  York,  and  his  ac 
complished  daughter;  Commodore  Kennan;  and  a  number 
of  Senators  and  Representatives.  Commodore  Stockton  was 
anxious  to  have  his  guests  witness  the  working  of  the  machin 
ery  of  his  vessel  and  to  observe  the  fire  of  his  great  gun,  his 
especial  pride.  Mr.  Gardner  and  his  daughter  were  guests 
at  the  Executive  Mansion;  and  to  the  latter,  the  President  — 
then  for  many  years  a  widower  —  was  especially  attentive. 
Officers  and  guests  were  all  in  the  best  of  spirits,  and  nothing 
seemed  wanting  to  make  the  occasion  one  of  unalloyed  pleas 
ure.  Upon  the  return,  and  when  almost  directly  opposite 
Mount  Vernon,  the  company  were  summoned  by  the  Com 
modore  from  the  dinner  table  to  witness  the  testing  of  the  gun. 
Preceded  by  an  officer,  the  guests  were  soon  assembled  in  prox 
imity  to  the  gun.  A  place  at  the  front  was  reserved  for  the 
President,  but  just  as  he  was  advancing,  his  attention  was 
directed  by  his  fair  guest  to  some  object  on  the  shore.  This 
for  a  moment  arrested  his  progress,  and  prevented  his  in 
stant  death,  for  at  this  critical  moment  the  gun  exploded, 
causing  the  immediate  death  of  more  than  twenty  persons, 
and  serious  injuries  to  many  others.  Among  the  injured 
were  Senator  Benton  and  Commodore  Stockton.  The  list 
of  the  dead  included  Secretary  of  State  Upshur,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  Gilmer,  Commodore  Kennan  —  one  of  the  heroes 
of  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  —  and  Mr.  Gardner, 
the  father  of  the  lady  whose  timely  interposition  had  caused 


FORGOTTEN  EVENTS  OF  THE  LONG  AGO       223 

the  moment's  delay  which  had  saved  the  President  from  the 
terrible  fate  of  his  associates.  Upon  the  return  of  the  Prince 
ton  to  Washington  the  dead  were  removed  to  the  Executive 
Mansion,  and  the  day,  so  auspicious  in  the  beginning,  ended 
in  gloom. 

Something  in  the  way  of  romance  is  the  sequel  to  that 
sad  event.  A  few  months  later  Miss  Gardner,  the  fair  guest 
of  the  President  upon  the  ill-fated  Princeton,  became  his 
bride,  and  during  the  remainder  of  his  term  of  office  did  the 
honors  of  the  Executive  Mansion. 

The  thousands  of  visitors  who  have,  during  the  past  sixty 
years,  passed  through  the  spacious  rooms  of  that  Mansion, 
have  paused  before  a  full-length  portrait  of  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  women.  Possibly  the  interest  of  no  one  who 
gazed  upon  her  lovely  features  was  lessened  when  told  that 
the  portrait  was  that  of  the  wife  of  President  Tyler,  the  once 
charming  and  accomplished  Miss  Gardner,  whose  name  is  so 
closely  associated  with  the  long-ago  chapter  of  sorrow  and  of 
romance. 

A  thought  pertaining  to  the  domain  of  the  real  rather  than 
of  the  romantic  is  suggested  by  the  sad  accident  upon  the 
Princeton.  But  for  the  trifling  incident  which  detained 
President  Tyler  from  the  side  of  his  Cabinet  officers  at  the 
awful  moment,  the  administration  of  the  Government  would 
have  passed  to  other  hands.  As  the  law  then  stood,  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  would  have  suc 
ceeded  to  the  Presidency;  and  how  this  might  have  changed 
the  current  of  our  political  history  is  a  matter  of  at  least 
curious  speculation. 

Remembering  that  — 

"  Two  stars  keep  not 
Their  motion  in  one  sphere," 

might  not  the  removal  of  one  have  healed  the  widening  breach 
in  the  Whig  party?  What  might  have  been  its  effect  upon 
the  grand  Internal  Improvement  Scheme  —  the  darling 
project  of  Henry  Clay?  what  upon  the  determination  of  the 
Oregon  Boundary  Question  —  whether  by  diplomacy  or 


224  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

war?  and  how  might  the  destiny  of  the  "Lone  Star,"  the 
Republic  of  Texas,  have  been  changed?  What  might  have 
been  the  effect  upon  the  political  fortunes  of  Tyler's  great 
antagonist,  around  whom  the  aggressive  forces  of  the  party 
he  had  founded  were  even  then  gathering  for  a  lif  e-and-death 
struggle  against  a  comparatively  obscure  rival  in  the  Presi 
dential  campaign  of  1844? 

Trifles  light  as  air  are  sometimes  the  pivots  upon  which 
hinge  momentous  events.  The  ill-timed  publication  of  a 
personal  letter  defeated  Cass  in  1848;  and  within  our  day  the 
utterance  of  a  single  word,  unheard  by  the  candidate  to 
whom  it  was  addressed,  lost  the  Presidency  to  Blaine. 

The  antagonism  of  Tyler  and  his  adherents  eliminated, 
it  is  within  the  bounds  of  probability  that  Henry  Clay  would 
have  triumphed  in  his  last  struggle  for  the  Presidency.  If  so, 
what  change  might  not  have  been  wrought  in  the  trend  of 
history?  Under  the  splendid  leadership  of  the  " great  pacifi 
cator,"  what  might  have  been  the  termination  of  vital  ques 
tions  even  then  casting  their  dark  shadows  upon  our  national 
pathway? 

•With  Clay  at  the  helm,  himself  the  incarnation  of  the 
spirit  of  compromise,  possibly  —  who  can  tell? — the  evil  days 
so  soon  to  follow  might  have  been  postponed  for  many  gen 
erations. 


XVI 
ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL 

MR.  INGERSOLL'S  ELOQUENCE  WHILE  A  YOUNG  MAN  —  HIS 
CANDIDACY  FOR  CONGRESS  —  HIS  AGNOSTICISM  A  HINDRANCE 
TO  HIS  POLITICAL  ADVANCEMENT  —  HIS  ORATION  AT  THE 
FUNERAL  OF  HIS  BROTHER. 

IT  was  in  April,  1859,  that  for  the  first  time  I  met  Robert 
G.  Ingersoll.  He  came  over  from  his  home  in  Peoria  to 
attend  the  Woodford  Circuit  Court.  He  was  then  under 
thirty  years  of  age,  of  splendid  physique,  magnetic  in  the 
fullest  significance  of  the  word,  and  one  of  the  most  attractive 
and  agreeable  of  men.  He  was  almost  boyish  in  appearance, 
and  hardly  known  beyond  the  limits  of  the  county  in  which 
he  lived.  He  had  but  recently  moved  to  Peoria  from  the 
southern  part  of  the  State. 

To  those  who  remember  him  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say 
that  even  at  that  early  day  he  gave  unmistakable  evidence 
of  his  marvellous  gifts.  His  power  over  a  jury  was  wonderful 
indeed;  and  woe  betide  the  counsel  of  but  mediocre  talents 
who  had  Ingersoll  for  an  antagonist  in  a  closely  contested  case. 

The  old  Court-house  at  Metamora  is  yet  standing,  a  mon 
ument  of  the  past;  the  county  seat  removed,  it  has  long  since 
fallen  from  its  high  estate.  In  my  boyhood,  I  have  more  than 
once  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  at  its  bar,  and  later  was  a  practitioner 
there  myself — and  State's  Attorney  for  the  Circuit, —  when 
Mr.  Ingersoll  was  an  attendant  upon  its  courts.  Rarely  at 
any  time  or  place  have  words  been  spoken  more  eloquent 
than  fell  from  the  lips  of  Lincoln  and  of  Ingersoll  in  that 
now  deserted  Court-house,  in  the  years  long  gone  by. 

The  first  appearance  of  Mr.  Ingersoll  in  the  political  arena 
was  in  the  Presidential  struggle  of  1860.  In  his  later  years 
he  was  a  Republican,  but  in  the  contest  just  mentioned  he  was 
the  earnest  advocate  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Douglas  to  the 
Presidency  and  was  himself  the  Democratic  candidate  for 

225 


226  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Congress  in  the  Peoria  District.  His  competitor  was  Judge 
Kellogg,  a  gentleman  of  well-known  ability  and  many  years' 
experience  in  Congress.  Immediately  upon  his  nomination, 
Ingersoll  challenged  Kellogg  to  a  series  of  joint  debates.  The 
challenge  was  accepted,  and  the  debates  which  followed  were 
a  rare  treat  to  the  throngs  who  heard  them.  The  discussions 
turned  upon  the  vital  issues  yet  pending  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,  issues  which  were  to  find  their  final  determina 
tion  on  the  field  of  battle.  Possibly,  with  the  exception  of 
the  historic  debates  two  years  earlier,  between  Lincoln  and 
Douglas,  the  country  has  known  no  abler  discussion  of  great 
questions.  It  was  then  for  the  first  time  that  Ingersoll  dis 
played  the  marvellous  forensic  powers  that  at  a  later  day  — 
and  upon  a  different  arena  —  gave  him  world- wide  renown. 

It  was  at  a  period  subsequent  to  that  just  mentioned 
that  he  became  an  agnostic.  I  recall  no  expression  of  his 
during  the  early  years  of  our  acquaintance  that  indicated  a 
departure  from  the  faith  in  which  he  had  been  reared.  That 
his  extreme  views  upon  religious  subjects,  and  his  manner, 
exceedingly  offensive  at  times,  of  expressing  them,  formed  an 
insuperable  barrier  to  his  political  advancement,  cannot  be 
doubted.  But  for  his  unbelief,  what  political  honors  might 
have  awaited  him  cannot  certainly  be  known.  But  recalling 
the  questions  then  under  discussion,  the  intensity  of  party 
feeling,  and  the  enthusiasm  that  his  marvellous  eloquence 
never  failed  to  arouse  in  the  thousands  who  hung  upon  his 
words,  it  is  probable  that  the  most  exalted  station  might 
have  been  attained.  To  those  familiar  with  the  political 
events  of  that  day,  it  is  known  that  the  antagonism  aroused 
by  his  assaults  upon  the  citadel  of  the  faith  sacred  to  the 
many,  compassed  his  defeat  in  his  candidature  in  1868  for 
the  Governorship  of  Illinois.  His  explanation  was,  that  his 
defeat  was  caused  by  a  slight  difference  of  opinion  between 
himself  and  some  of  the  brethren  upon  the  highly  exciting 
question  of  total  depravity. 

Some  years  later,  the  nominee  of  his  party  for  the  Presi 
dency  was  exceedingly  obnoxious  to  him.  Meeting  the 
Colonel  the  morning  after  the  adjournment  of  the  conven- 


R.  G.  INGERSOLL 


PETER  CARTWRIGHT 


ROBERTO.  INGERSOLL  237 

tion,  I  inquired,  "Are  you  happy?"  To  this  he  replied,  that 
he  was  somewhat  in  the  condition  of  a  very  profane  youth 
who  had  just  got  religion  at  a  backwoods  camp-meeting. 
Soon  after  his  conversion,  the  preacher,  taking  him  affec 
tionately  by  the  hand,  inquired:  "My  young  friend,  are 
you  very  happy?"  "Well,  parson,"  replied  the  only  half- 
converted  youth,  "I  am  not  damn  happy,  just  happy, 
that's  all." 

His  only  brother  was  for  many  years  a  Representative 
in  Congress  from  Illinois.  Clark  Ingersoll  was  himself  able 
and  eloquent,  but  overshadowed  by  the  superior  gifts  of  his 
younger  brother,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The  death  of 
the  former  was  to  Colonel  Ingersoll  a  sorrow  which  remained 
with  him  to  the  last.  The  funeral  occurred  in  Washington 
in  the  summer  of  1879,  and  of  the  pall-bearers  selected  by 
Colonel  Ingersoll  for  the  last  sad  service  to  his  brother,  were 
men  well  known  in  public  life,  one  of  whom  but  two  years 
later,  while  President  of  the  United  States,  fell  by  the  hand 
of  an  assassin. 

From  a  Washington  paper  of  the  day  succeeding  the 
funeral  of  Clark  Ingersoll,  the  following  is  taken:  "When 
Colonel  Ingersoll  ceased  speaking  the  pall-bearers,  Senator 
Allison,  Senator  David  Davis,  Senator  Elaine,  Senator  Voor- 
hees,  Representatives  Garfield  of  Ohio,  Morrison,  Boyd,  and 
Stevenson  of  Illinois,  bore  the  casket  to  the  hearse  and  the 
lengthy  cortege  proceeded  to  the  Oak  Hill  Cemetery  where  the 
remains  were  interred." 

The  occasion  was  one  that  will  not  easily  pass  from  my 
memory.  There  was  no  service  whatever  save  the  funeral 
oration  which  has  found  its  way  into  all  languages.  I  stood 
by  the  side  of  Colonel  Ingersoll  near  the  casket  during  its 
delivery,  and  vividly  recall  his  deep  emotion,  and  the  faltering 
tones  in  which  the  wondrous  sentences  were  uttered.  It  is 
probable  that  this  oration  has  no  counterpart  in  literature. 
It  seemed  in  very  truth  the  knell  of  hope,  the  expression  of 
a  grief  that  could  know  no  surcease,  the  agony  of  a  parting 
that  could  know  no  morrow. 

In  such  an  hour  how  cheerless  and  comfortless  these  words : 


228  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"  Life  is  a  narrow  vale  between  the  cold  and  barren  peaks  of 
two  eternities.  We  strive  in  vain  to  look  beyond  the  heights. 
We  cry  aloud,  and  the  only  answer  is  the  echo  of  our  wailing 
cry. 

"  Every  life,  no  matter  if  its  every  hour  is  rich  with  love,  and 
every  moment  jewelled  with  a  joy,  will  at  its  close  become  a 
tragedy  as  sad  and  deep  and  dark  as  can  be  woven  of  the  warp 
and  woof  of  mystery  and  death." 

And  yet  in  those  other  words,  "  But  in  the  night  of  death, 
hope  sees  a  star,  and  listening  love  can  hear  the  rustle  of  a 
wing,"  and,  "  while  on  his  forehead  fell  the  golden  dawning 
of  a  grander  day/'  there  is  a  yearning  for  "the  touch  of  a 
vanished  hand,"  and  a  hope  that  no  philosophy  could  dispel 
of  a  reunion  sometime  and  somewhere  with  the  loved  and 
lost. 

Two  decades  later,  again  "the  veiled  shadow  stole  upon 
the  scene,"  and  the  sublime  mystery  of  life  and  death  was 
revealed.  The  awful  question,  "If  a  man  die  shall  he  live 
again?"  was  answered,  and  to  the  great  agnostic  all  was 
known. 


XVII 
A   CAMP-MEETING   ORATOR 

PETER  CARTWRIGHT,  METHODIST  PREACHER  —  HIS  FEARLESS 
NESS  AND  ENERGY  —  HIS  OLD-FASHIONED  ORTHODOXY  — 
HOW  HE  CONVERTED  A  PROFANE  SWEARER  —  HIS  ATTEND 
ANCE  AT  A  BALL  —  OLD-TIME  CAMP-MEETINGS  —  CART- 
WRIGHT'S  AVERSION  TO  OTHER  SECTS  —  CONVERSION  OF  A 
DESPERADO  INTO  A  PENITENT  —  CARTWRIGHT  MR.  LINCOLN'S 
COMPETITOR  FOR  REPRESENTATIVE  —  HIS  SPEECH  AT  A 
DEMOCRATIC  STATE  CONVENTION. 

THE  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright  was  a  noted  Methodist 
preacher  of  pioneer  days  in  Central  Illinois.  Once 
seen,  he  was  a  man  never  to  be  forgotten.  He  was,  in 
the  most  expressive  sense  of  the  words,  sui  generis;  a  veritable 
product  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  conditions 
under  which  he  moved  and  had  his  being.  All  in  all,  his 
like  will  not  appear  again.  He  was  converted  when  a  mere 
youth  at  a  camp-meeting  in  southern  Kentucky;  soon  after, 
he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  became  a  circuit  rider  in  that 
State,  and  later  was  of  the  Methodist  vanguard  to  Illinois. 
It  was  said  of  him  that  he  was  of  the  church  military  as  well 
as  "  the  church  militant."  He  was  of  massive  build,  an  utter 
stranger  to  fear,  and  of  unquestioned  honesty  and  sincerity. 
He  was  gifted  with  an  eloquence  adapted  to  the  times  in 
which  he  lived,  and  the  congregations  to  which  he  preached. 
There  would  be  no  place  for  him  now,  for  the  untutored  as 
semblages  who  listened  with  bated  breath  to  his  fiery  appeals 
are  of  the  past. 

"  For,  welladay !    Their  day  is  fled, 
Old  times  are  changed,  old  manners  gone." 

The  narrative  of  his  tough  conflicts  with  the  emissaries 
of  Satan  is  even  now  of  the  rarest  reading  for  a  summer's  day 
or  a  winter's  night.  How  he  fought  the  Indians,  fought  the 
robbers,  swam  rivers,  and  threaded  the  prairies,  in  order  that 

229 


230  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

he  might  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  remotest  frontiersmen,  was 
of  thrilling  interest  to  many  of  the  new  generation  as  his 
own  sands  were  running  low.  He  literally  took  no  thought 
of  the  morrow,  but  without  staff  and  little  even  in  the  way 
of  scrip  unselfishly  gave  the  best  years  of  a  life  extending  two 
decades  beyond  the  time  allotted,  to  the  service  of  his 
Master. 

Until  the  Judgment  leaves  are  unfolded  the  good  which 
this  man  and  many  of  his  co-laborers  did  in  the  new  country 
will  never  be  known.  A  journey  of  days  on  horseback  to  fill 
an  appointment,  to  perform  a  marriage  ceremony,  preach  a 
funeral  sermon,  or  speak  words  of  hope  and  comfort  to  the 
sick  or  to  the  bereaved,  was  part  of  the  sum  of  a  life  of 
service  that  knew  little  of  rest. 

There  would  probably  be  few  pulpits  open  to  Peter  Cart- 
wright  in  these  more  cultivated  times.  Old  things  have 
passed  away;  the  pioneer  in  his  rough  garb,  with  axe  upon 
his  shoulder,  and  rifle  in  hand,  is  now  but  a  tradition,  while 
the  border  line  of  civilization  has  receded  westward  to  the 
ocean. 

None  the  less,  the  typical  minister  of  to-day  would  have 
had  very  scant  welcome  in  the  rude  pulpits  of  the  days 
of  which  we  write.  His  elegant  attire,  conventional  man 
ners,  written  sermons,  and  new  theology,  would  have  been 
sadly  out  of  place  in  the  camp-meeting  times,  for  be  it  re 
membered  that  Cartwright  called  things  by  their  right  names. 
He  gave  forth  no  uncertain  sound.  His  theology  was  that 
of  the  Fathers.  We  hear  little  in  these  modern  days  of  "  the 
fire  that  quencheth  not"  and  of  "  total  depravity"  and  of 
"  the  bottomless  pit."  Such  expressions  are  unfitted  for  ears 
polite.  Higher  criticism,  new  thought,  and  all  kindred  ideas 
and  suggestions, 

"  Sapping  a  solemn  creed  with  solemn  sneer," 

were  believed  by  Cartwright  and  his  contemporaries  to 
be  mere  contrivances  of  Satan  for  the  ensnaring  of  im 
mortal  souls.  His  abhorrence  of  all  these  "wiles  of  the 
devil,"  and  his  scorn  for  their  advocates,  knew  no  bounds. 


A  CAMP-MEETING  ORATOR  231 

His  preaching  was  of  the  John  Wesley,  George  White- 
field,  and  Jonathan  Edwards  type.  Mingled  with  his  denun 
ciations  of  sin,  his  earnest  exhortations  to  repentance,  his 
graphic  description  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  with  its  "  streets 
of  gold,  walls  of  jasper,  and  gates  of  pearl,"  and  of  the  un 
ending  bliss  of  the  redeemed,  were  expressions  now  relegated 
to  the  limbo  of  the  past.  Little  time,  however,  was  wasted 
by  the  Rev.  Peter  in  picking  out  soft  words  for  fear  of  giving 
offence.  To  his  impassioned  soul  "  the  final  doom  of  the 
impenitent,"  the  "  torment  of  the  damned,"  and  "  hell  fire  " 
itself,  were  veritable  realities.  And  so  indeed,  when  rolling 
from  his  tongue,  did  they  appear,  not  alone  to  the  rapt  be 
liever,  but  oftentimes  to  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  as  well. 

More  than  one  marvellous  conversion  under  his  ministra 
tion  is  recorded  by  Brother  Cartwright  in  the  autobiography 
written  in  the  closing  years  of  his  life.  At  one  time  in  cross 
ing  a  stream,  he  was  deeply  offended  by  the  profanity  of  the 
boatman.  The  kindly  admonition  and  the  gentle  rebuke 
of  the  minister  apparently  added  zest  and  volume  to  the 
oaths  of  the  boatman.  Suddenly  seizing  the  offender,  the 
irate  preacher  ducked  him  into  the  river,  and  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  his  piteous  appeals  for  succor  until  the  half-drowned 
wretch  had  offered  a  prayer  for  mercy  and  made  profuse 
promises  of  repentance.  Hopeful  conversion,  and  an  ever- 
after  life  of  Christian  humility,  were  the  gratifying  sequels 
to  the  baptism  so  unexpectedly  administered. 

Another  experience  no  less  remarkable  occurred  when, 
during  the  early  years  of  his  ministry,  he  was  crossing  the 
mountains  on  his  way  to  the  General  Conference.  At  a  tav 
ern  by  the  wayside,  where  he  had  obtained  lodging  for  the 
night,  he  found  preparations  in  progress  for  a  ball  to  come 
off  that  very  evening.  The  protestation  of  the  minister  against 
such  wickedness  only  aroused  the  ire  of  the  landlord  and  his 
family.  The  dance  promptly  began  at  the  appointed  time. 

"Soft  eyes  looked  love  to  eyes  which  spake  again, 

And  all  went  merry  as  a  marriage-bell." 
There  being  but  a  single  room  to  the  house,  and  a  storm 
raging  without,  the  outraged  and  indignant  minister  was 


232  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  unwilling  witness  to  the  ebb  and  flow  of  this  tide  of  un 
godliness.  At  length,  as  partners  were  being  chosen  for  the 
Virginia  Reel,  a  beautiful  girl  approached  the  solitary  guest 
and  requested  his  hand  for  the  set  just  forming.  The  min 
ister  arose  and  intimated  a  ready  compliance  with  her  request, 
at  the  same  time  assuring  her  that  he  never  entered  upon 
any  important  undertaking  without  first  invoking  God's 
blessing  upon  it;  and  seizing  her  by  the  hand  he  fell  upon 
his  knees  and  with  the  voice  of  one  born  to  be  obeyed  com 
manded  silence  and  began  his  prayer.  The  dance  was  im 
mediately  suspended,  and  a  solemnity  and  horror,  as  if  the 
presage  of  approaching  doom,  fell  upon  the  startled  assem 
blage.  Above  the  agonizing  sobs  of  the  lately  impenitent 
revellers  was  heard,  as  was  that  of  the  ancient  prophet 
above  the  din  of  the  worshippers  of  Baal,  the  voice  of  the 
man  of  God  in  earnest  appeals  to  the  throne  of  grace  for 
mercy  to  these  "hell-deserving  sinners." 

An  hour  passed;  lamentations  and  groans  of  sin-sick 
souls  mingled  meanwhile  with  the  fervent  exhortations  and 
appeals  of  the  man  of  prayer.  Suddenly  and  in  rapid  suc 
cession  shout  after  shout  of  victory  from  redeemed  souls 
ascended,  and  as  if  by  magic  the  late  abode  of  scoffers  be 
came  indeed  a  very  Bethel.  The  incidents  mentioned,  and 
others  scarcely  less  remarkable,  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Cart- 
wright's  autobiography.  The  present  generation  knows  but 
little  of  the  old-time  camp-meeting;  as  it  existed  in  the  days 
and  under  the  administration  of  Peter  Cartwright  and  his 
co-laborers,  it  is  verily  a  thing  of  the  past. 

"New  occasions  teach  new  duties; 
Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth." 

Seventy  years  and  more  ago,  the  country  new,  the  popu 
lation  sparse,  the  settlements  few  and  far  between,  the  camp- 
meeting  was  of  yearly  and,  as  it  was  believed,  of  necessary 
occurrence.  It  was,  especially  with  the  early  Methodists, 
a  recognized  instrumentality  for  preaching  the  Gospel  for 
the  conversion  of  souls. 

A  convenient  spot  —  usually  near  a  spring  or  brook  —  be 
ing  selected,  a  rude  pulpit  was  erected,  rough  seats  provided, 


A  CAMP-MEETING  ORATOR  233 

a  log  cabin  or  two  for  the  aged  and  infirm  hastily  constructed, 
and  there  in  the  early  autumn  large  congregations  assembled 
for  worship.  For  many  miles  around,  and  often  from  neigh 
boring  counties,  the  people  came,  on  horseback,  in  wagons, 
and  on  foot.  Each  family  furnished  its  own  tent,  the  needed 
bed -clothing,  cooking  utensils,  and  abundant  provisions 
for  their  temporary  sojourn  in  the  wilderness.  It  was  no 
holiday  occasion,  no  time  for  merry  making.  It  was  often 
at  much  sacrifice  and  discomfort  that  such  meetings  were 
held,  and  preachers  and  people  alike  were  in  terrible  earnest. 
Rigid  rules  for  their  government  were  formulated  and  en 
forced,  and  a  proper  decorum  required  and  observed.  Woe 
betide  the  wretch  who  attempted  to  create  disturbance,  or 
depart  from  the  strictest  propriety  of  deportment.  Not 
infrequently  in  the  early  camp-meetings  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  there  were  stalwart  men  keeping  guard  over  these 
religious  gatherings,  who  had  in  their  younger  days  hunted 
the  savage  foe  from  his  fastness,  faced  Tecumseh  at  Tippe- 
canoe  and  the  Thames,  possibly  been  comrades  of  "Old 
Hickory"  through  the  Everglades  and  at  New  Orleans. 

A  sufficient  time  being  set  apart  for  meals  and  the  needed 
hours  of  rest,  the  residue  was  in  the  main  devoted  to  public 
or  private  worship.  Family  prayer-meetings  were  held  in 
each  tent  at  the  early  dawn;  public  preaching  by  the  most 
gifted  speakers  during  two  hours  or  more  of  the  forenoon. 
After  a  hasty  midday  meal  the  public  services  were  resumed, 
to  be  followed  at  the  appointed  time  by  meetings  for  special 
prayer,  class  meetings,  and  love  feasts,  all  conducted  with  the 
greatest  possible  solemnity;  and  the  exercises,  after  supper  had 
been  served  and  the  candles  lighted,  concluded  for  the  day 
with  an  impassioned  sermon  from  the  main  stand.  During 
the  last -mentioned  service  especially,  the  scene  presented 
was  truly  of  a  weird  and  picturesque  character.  The  flicker 
ing  lights  of  the  camp,  the  dark  forest  around,  the  melodious 
concert  of  a  thousand  voices  mingling  in  sacred  song,  the 
awe-inspiring,  never-to-be-forgotten  hymn, 

"  Come,  humble  sinner,  in  whose  breast 
A  thousand  thoughts  revolve/' 


234  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  fervid  exclamations  as  convicted  sinners  gathered  around 
the  mourners'  bench  and  the  shouts  of  joy  heard  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  camp  as  peace  found  lodging  in  sin- 
distracted  souls,  all  impressed  the  memory  and  heart  too 
deeply  for  even  the  flight  of  years  wholly  to  dispel. 

It  need  hardly  be  added  that  these  scenes,  of  which  but 
feeble  description  has  been  given,  marked  the  hour  of  triumph 
of  the  truly  gifted  of  the  revival  preachers  of  camp-meeting 
times.  The  echoes  will  never  awake  to  the  sound  of  such 
eloquence  again.  The  orator  and  the  occasion  here  met  and 
embraced.  In  very  truth,  the  joys  of  the  redeemed,  and  the 
horrors  of  lost  souls,  were  depicted  in  colors  that  only  lips 
"touched  with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar"  could  adequately 
describe.  In  the  presence  of  such  lurid  imagery,  even  the 
inspired  revelation  of  the  apocalyptic  vision  seems  but  sober 
narrative  of  commonplace  events. 

With  camp-meetings  and  their  thrilling  incidents  of  two 
generations  ago  in  our  Western  country,  the  name  of  Peter 
Cartwright  is  inseparably  associated.  He  was  the  born 
leader;  par  excellence,  the  unrivalled  orator.  Since  the  pass 
ing  of  Whitefield  and  of  Asbury  a  greater  than  he  had  not 
appeared.  To  those  who  have  never  attended  an  old-time 
camp-meeting  the  following  quotation  from  Mr.  Cartwright's 
autobiography  may  be  of  interest : 

"The  meeting  was  protracted  for  weeks  and  was  kept  up 
day  and  night.  Thousands  heard  of  the  mighty  work,  and  came 
on  foot,  on  horseback,  and  in  wagons.  It  was  supposed  that 
there  were  in  attendance  at  different  times  from  twelve  to 
twenty-five  thousand.  Hundreds  fell  prostrate  under  the  mighty 
power  of  God,  as  men  slain  in  battle;  and  it  was  supposed  that 
between  one  and  two  thousand  souls  were  happily  and  power 
fully  converted  to  God  during  the  meetings.  It  was  not  unusual 
for  as  many  as  seven  preachers  to  be  addressing  the  listening 
thousands  at  a  time,  from  different  stands.  At  times,  more 
than  a  thousand  persons  broke  out  into  loud  shouting,  all  at 
once,  and  the  shouts  could  be  heard  for  miles  around." 

Strange  as  the  following  may  sound  to  the  present  gen 
eration,  it  is  one  of  the  many  experiences  recorded  by 
Cartwright: 


A  CAMP-MEETING  ORATOR  235 

"The  camp-meeting  was  lighted  up,  the  trumpet  blown,  I 
rose  in  the  stand  and  required  every  soul  to  leave  the  tents  and 
come  into  the  congregation.  There  was  a  general  rush  to  the 
stand.  I  requested  the  brethren,  if  ever  they  prayed  in  their 
lives,  to  pray  now.  My  voice  was  strong  and  clear,  and  my 
preaching  was  more  of  an  exhortation  than  anything  else.  My 
text  was:  ' The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail.'  In  about  thirty 
minutes  the  power  of  God  fell  on  the  congregation  in  such  a 
manner  as  is  seldom  seen;  the  people  fell  in  every  direction,  right 
and  left,  front  and  rear.  It  was  supposed  that  not  less  than 
three  hundred  fell  like  dead  men  in  mighty  battle;  and  there 
was  no  need  of  calling  mourners,  for  they  were  strewed  all  over 
the  camp  ground.  Loud  wailings  went  up  to  Heaven  from  sin 
ners  for  mercy,  and  a  general  shout  from  Christians  so  that  the 
noise  was  heard  afar  off." 

That  it  was  by  no  means  an  unusual  occurrence  for  those 
who  came  to  scoff  to  remain  to  pray  will  appear  from  the 
same  book: 

"  Just  as  I  was  closing  up  my  sermon  and  pressing  it  with 
all  the  force  I  could  command,  the  power  of  God  suddenly  was 
displayed,  and  sinners  fell  by  scores  through  all  the  assembly. 
It  was  supposed  that  several  hundred  fell  in  five  minutes;  sin 
ners  turned  pale;  some  ran  into  the  woods;  some  tried  to  get 
away,  and  fell  in  the  attempt;  some  shouted  aloud  for  joy." 

The  horror  of  Brother  Cartwright  for  "immersionists"  and 
Calvinists  of  every  degree,  appears  throughout  his  entire 
book.  That  his  righteous  soul  was  often  sorely  vexed  because 
of  them  is  beyond  question.  That  his  cup  had  not  been 
drained  to  the  dregs  will  appear  from  a  new  element  he 
encountered  when  sent  across  the  Ohio  to  the  Scioto 
conference. 

"  It  was  a  poor  and  hard  circuit  at  that  time,  and  the  country 
round  was  settled  in  an  early  day  by  a  colony  of  Yankees.  At 
the  time  of  my  appointment  I  had  never  seen  a  Yankee,  and  I 
had  heard  dismal  stories  about  them.  It  was  said  they  lived 
almost  entirely  on  pumpkins,  molasses,  fat  meat,  and  Bohea 
tea;  moreover  that  they  could  not  bear  loud  and  zealous  ser 
mons,  and  that  they  had  brought  on  their  learned  preachers  with 
them,  and  were  always  criticising  us  poor  backwoods  preachers." 

The  "isms"  our  circuit-rider  now  encountered  would  have 
appalled  a  less  resolute  man.  He  seems,  however,  to  have 


236  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

gotten  along  fairly  well  except  with  one  "  female,"  who,  from 
all  accounts,  was  given  over  in  about  equal  parts  to  "univer- 
salism  "  and  "  predestinarianism."  This  troublesome  female, 
that  he  candidly  admitted  he  had  a  hard  race  to  keep  up  with, 
he  has  left  impaled  for  all  time  as  a  "  thin-faced,  Roman- 
nosed,  loquacious,  glib-tongued  Yankee." 

Something  of  the  antagonisms  of  the  different  persuasions 
in  the  good  old  pioneer  days,  may  be  gathered  from  the  tender 
farewell  taken  by  Brother  Cartwright  of  a  former  associate, 
one  Brother  D.,  "who  left  the  Methodists,  joined  the  Free-will 
Baptists,  left  them  and  joined  the  New  Lights,  and  then 
moved  to  Texas,  where  I  expect  the  devil  has  him  in  safe 
keeping  long  before  this  time!" 

It  would  be  idle  to  suppose  that  Peter  Cartwright  was  a 
mere  visionary  or  dreamer.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from 
the  truth.  He  was  abundantly  possessed  with  what,  in  West 
ern  parlance,  is  known  as  "horse  sense."  He  was  a  student 
of  men,  and  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  affairs  of  this  world. 
His  shrewdness,  no  less  than  his  courage,  was  a  proverb  in 
his  day.  Upon  one  occasion,  at  the  beginning  of  his  sermon 
before  a  large  audience,  he  was  more  than  once  interrupted 
by  the  persistent  but  ineffectual  attempt  of  a  saintly  old 
sister  to  shout.  Annoyed  at  length,  turning  to  her  he  said : 
"Dear  sister,  never  shout  as  a  matter  of  duty;  when  you 
can't  help  it,  then  shout;  but  never  shout  as  a  mere  matter  of 
duty!" 

At  a  camp-meeting  on  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland  in  the 
early  years  of  the  last  century,  an  attempt  was  made  by  a 
band  of  desperadoes  to  create  a  disturbance.  To  this  end 
their  leader,  a  burly  ruffian,  stalked  to  the  front  of  the  pulpit, 
and  with  an  oath  commanded  Cartwright  to  "dry  up."  Sus 
pending  divine  service  for  a  few  minutes,  and  laying  aside  his 
coat,  the  preacher  descended  from  the  pulpit  and  springing 
upon  the  intruder,  felled  him  to  the  earth  and  belabored  him 
until  the  wretch  begged  for  mercy.  The  precious  boon  was 
withheld  until  the  now  penitent  disturber,  after  promising  to 
repent,  had  been  given  the  humblest  seat  in  the  "amen 
corner."  This  all  satisfactorily  completed,  and  his  garment 


A  CAMP-MEETING  ORATOR  237 

replaced,  the  minister,  scarcely  ruffled  by  the  trifling  in 
cident,  reentered  the  pulpit,  and  with  the  words,  "As  I  was 
saying,  brethren,  when  interrupted,"  continued  his  discourse. 

This  little  sketch  would  be  unpardonably  incomplete  if 
the  important  fact  were  withheld  that  Peter  Cartwright  had 
a  relish  for  politics,  as  well  as  for  salvation.  He  was  more 
than  once  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Illinois,  and 
be  it  said  to  his  eternal  honor  his  speech  and  vote  were  ever 
on  the  side  of  whatever  conduced  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
State.  In  him  the  cause  of  education,  and  the  asylums  for 
the  unfortunate,  had  ever  an  earnest  advocate. 

Though  many  years  his  senior,  he  was  the  contemporary 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  a  resident  of  the  same  county.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was,  in  1846,  the  Whig  candidate  for  Representative 
in  Congress.  The  district  was  of  immense  area,  embracing 
many  counties  of  Central  Illinois.  Newspapers  were  scarce, 
and  the  old-time  custom  of  joint  discussions  between  opposing 
candidates  for  high  office  still  in  vogue.  Mr.  Lincoln's  un 
successful  competitor  was  none  other  than  the  subject  of 
this  article.  The  great  Whig  leader  and  his  Democratic  an 
tagonist —  "My  friend  the  Parson,"  as  Mr.  Lincoln  famil 
iarly  called  him  —  were  soon  engaged  in  joint  debate.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  record  of  these  debates.  There 
is  probably  no  man  now  living  who  heard  them.  But  what 
rare  reading  they  would  be  at  this  day,  if  happily  they  had 
been  preserved.  The  earnest,  inflexible  parson, —  even  then 
"standing  upon  the  Western  slope," —  backed  by  his  party, 
then  dominant  in  the  national  government,  upon  the  one 
side;  the  comparatively  youthful  lawyer,  whose  fame  was 
yet  to  fill  the  world,  upon  the  other.  No  doubt,  daily  upon 
"the  stump"  and  at  night  at  the  village  taverns,  the  changes 
were  rung  upon  the  then  all-absorbing  subjects,  the  Walker 
Tariff,  the  War  with  Mexico,  and  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  These 
questions  belong  now  to  the  domain  of  history;  as  do  indeed 
issues  of  far  greater  consequence,  upon  which  Lincoln  and  an 
antagonist  more  formidable  than  Cartwright  crossed  swords 
a  dozen  years  later. 

At  the  Democratic  State  Convention,  which  assembled  in 


238          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Springfield  in  the  early  spring  of  1860,  a  resolution  instructing 
the  Illinois  delegates  to  support  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  nomi 
nation  to  the  Presidency  at  the  approaching  National  Conven 
tion  was  adopted  amidst  great  enthusiasm.  Immediately 
upon  its  adoption,  a  delegate  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  venerable  Peter  Cartwright  was  present,  and  said  he  knew 
the  Convention  would  be  glad  to  hear  a  word  from  him.  Im 
mediately  "Cartwright,"  " Cartwright,"  "Cartwright,"  was 
heard  from  all  parts  of  the  chamber.  From  his  seat,  sur 
rounded  by  the  Sangamon  County  delegates,  near  the  central 
part  of  the  hall,  Mr.  Cartwright  arose,  and  with  deep  emotion, 
and  scarcely  audible  voice,  began : 

"  My  friends  and  fellow-citizens,  I  am  happy  to  be  with  you 
on  the  present  occasion.  My  sun  is  low  down  upon  the  horizon, 
and  the  days  of  my  pilgrimage  are  almost  numbered.  I  have 
lived  in  Illinois  during  the  entire  period  of  its  history  as  a  State. 
I  have  watched  with  tender  interest  its  marvellous  growth  from 
its  feeble  condition  as  a  Territory,  until  it  has  reached  its 
present  splendor  as  a  State.  I  have  travelled  over  its  prairies, 
slept  with  only  the  canopy  of  heaven  for  a  covering;  I  have 
followed  the  trail  of  the  Indians,  fought  the  desperadoes,  swam 
the  rivers,  threaded  the  almost  pathless  forests,  in  order  that  I 
might  carry  the  tidings  of  the  blessed  Gospel  to  the  loneliest 
cabin  upon  the  border.  Yes,  my  friends,  for  seventy  long  years, 
amid  appalling  difficulties  and  dangers,  I  have  waged  an  inces 
sant  warfare  against  the  world,  the  flesh,  the  devil,  and  all  the 
other  enemies  of  the  Democratic  party ! " 


xvm 

CLEVELAND  AS   I   KNEW  HIM 

SPEECH     ACCEPTING     HIS     NOMINATION  —  MB. 
ELAINE'^  FRUITLESS  TOUR  AS  A  CANDIDATE  —  CLEVELAND'S 

INSIGHT    INTO   HUMAN  CHARACTER HIS  TARIFF-REDUCTION 

MESSAGE WITHDRAWAL     OF    THE     HAWAIIAN     ANNEXATION 

TREATY  —  HIS  VENEZUELAN  MESSAGE  —  HIS  ACQUAINTANCE 
WITH  THE  SCIENCE  OF  GOVERNMENT  —  HIS  QUALIFICATIONS 
FOR  SOCIAL  LIFE  AND  FOR  SERVING  THE  COUNTRY. 

UPON  the  adjournment  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1884,  which  had  nominated  Mr.  Cleve 
land  for  the  Presidency,  in  company  with  other  del 
egates  I  visited  him  at  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Albany, 
New  York.  The  Hon.  William  F.  Vilas  was  the  chairman  of 
our  committee,  and  the  purpose  of  the  visit  to  notify  Mr. 
Cleveland,  officially,  of  his  nomination  to  the  great  office.  I 
saw  him  then  for  the  first  time. 

He  was  then  Governor  of  New  York,  having  been  but 
recently  elected  by  an  unprecedented  majority.  I  recall  him 
distinctly  on  this  occasion  as  he  responded  to  the  eloquent 
speech  of  Colonel  Vilas.  Standing  near  him  at  the  time  were 
three  men  well  known  at  a  later  date  as  members  of  his  cabinet 
and  his  closest  friends,  Daniel  Manning,  William  C.  Whitney, 
and  Daniel  S.  Lament. 

Cleveland's  response  to  the  speech  of  notification  was  in 
dignified,  forceful  phrase,  and  at  once  challenged  public  atten 
tion  and  gave  the  keynote  to  the  memorable  contest  which 
immediately  followed.  In  some  of  its  aspects  it  was  a  Presi 
dential  struggle  the  like  of  which  we  may  not  again  witness. 
As  the  day  of  election  drew  near,  the  excitement  increased 
in  intensity,  and  no  efforts  that  gave  hopes  of  success  were 
spared  by  the  opposing  party  managers. 

The  defection  from  his  ranks  by  what  in  campaign  publi 
cations  of  the  day  was  known  as  the  " mugwump"  element, 

£39 


240  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

caused  Mr.  Elaine  to  venture  upon  a  hazardous  tour  of  speech- 
making.  Enthusiastic  audiences  gathered  around  the  bril 
liant  Republican  candidate  during  his  Western  tour.  This, 
however,  as  the  sequel  showed,  was  time  and  energy  wasted; 
Illinois  and  Ohio  were  safely  in  the  Republican  column,  and 
the  real  battle-ground  was  New  York  State.  Homeward 
bound  at  length  from  this  strenuous  pilgrimage  demanded 
by  no  party  necessity,  Mr.  Elaine  was  fated  during  his  brief 
sojourn  in  New  York  to  listen  to  the  now  historical  words 
of  Burchard,  words  which  in  all  human  probability  proved  the 
political  undoing  of  the  candidate  to  whom,  with  the  best  in 
tentions,  they  were  earnestly  addressed. 

New  York,  as  has  been  its  wont  before  and  since,  proved 
the  pivotal  State.  For  many  days  after  the  election  the  result 
was  still  in  doubt.  Party  feeling  was  intense,  and  the  result 
hinged  upon  the  narrow  margin  in  the  vote  of  Elaine  and 
Cleveland  in  one  State. 

During  the  strenuous  days  that  passed  from  the  election 
until  the  authoritative  announcement  of  the  result,  one  man 
alone,  amid  the  high  tide  of  party  passion,  remained  calm. 
To  all  appearances  unmoved,  Grover  Cleveland  sat  in  his 
office  day  after  day,  no  detail  of  official  duty  failing  to  receive 
his  careful  attention.  The  fact  just  stated  is  explanatory 
of  much  in  his  subsequent  career. 

When  first  nominated  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Cleveland 
had  little  personal  knowledge  of  public  men  outside  of  his  own 
State.  How  rapidly  he  acquired  the  information  necessary 
to  a  successful  administration  of  the  government  was  indeed 
a  marvel.  It  was  no  " Cleveland  luck"  or  haphazard  chance 
that  called  into  his  first  Cabinet  such  men  as  Bayard,  Man 
ning,  Garland,  Vilas,  and  Whitney.  It  can  safely  be  as 
serted  that  Mr.  Cleveland  was  an  excellent  judge  of  men 
and  of  their  capacity  for  the  particular  work  assigned  them. 
As  if  by  intuition,  he  thoroughly  understood  after  a  single 
interview  the  men  with  whom  he  was  brought  in  contact.  As 
an  object  lesson  a  better  appointment  to  high  office  has  rarely 
been  made  than  that  of  Fuller  to  the  chief  justiceship  of  the 
great  court.  No  less  fortunate  was  his  selection  of  Vilas  to 


4  4J 


WILLIAM  FREEMAN    VILAS 


CLEVELAND  AS  I  KNEW  HIM  241 

the  responsible  position  of  Postmaster-General.  And  yet 
both  of  these  gentlemen  were  personally  strangers  to  Mr. 
Cleveland  when  he  was  first  named  for  the  Presidency.  His 
appointments  to  important  diplomatic  positions  likewise 
strikingly  illustrated  his  aptness  in  forming  a  correct  estimate 
of  men  from  whom  his  appointees  were  to  be  chosen. 

No  incumbent  of  the  Presidency  was  ever  less  of  a  time- 
server  than  Cleveland.  "Expediency"  was  a  word  scarcely 
known  to  his  vocabulary.  Recognizing  alike  the  dignity  and 
responsibility  of  the  great  office,  he  was  in  the  highest  degree 
self-reliant.  None  the  less  he  at  all  times  availed  himself  of 
the  wise  counsel  of  his  official  advisers.  In  matters  falling 
within  their  especial  province  their  determination  was,  except 
in  rare  instances,  conclusive.  In  no  sense  was  his  mind 
closed  against  the  timely  counsel  of  his  friends.  Far  from 
being  opinionated,  in  the  offensive  sense  of  the  word,  the  ulti 
mate  determination,  however,  was  after  "  having  taken  coun 
sel  from  himself." 

The  incident  contributing  perhaps  more  than  any  other  to 
his  defeat  in  1888  was  his  tariff-reduction  message  to  Con 
gress  one  year  prior  to  that  election.  An  abler  state  paper 
has  rarely  been  put  forth.  It  was  a  clear,  succinct  presenta 
tion  of  existing  economic  conditions;  in  very  truth  an  unan 
swerable  argument  for  tariff  reduction.  It  is  not  yet  forgotten 
how  promptly  this  message  was  denounced  by  the  entire  oppo 
sition  press  as  a  "free- trade  manifesto,"  and  how  this  cry 
increased  in  voice  and  volume  until  the  close  of  the  Presiden 
tial  contest.  And  yet,  hi  sending  this  message  to  Congress, 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  entirely  consistent  with  himself.  Its 
utterances  were  in  clear  accord  with  the  platform  upon  which 
he  had  been  nominated  and  with  his  letter  of  acceptance. 
It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  politics  that  the  clear-cut  sen 
tences  measurably  instrumental  in  compassing  his  defeat  in 
1888,  were  upon  the  banners  of  his  triumphant  partisans  in 
the  campaign  of  1892. 

In  the  year  last  named,  Mr.  Cleveland  was  for  the  third 
time  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  Presidency.  His 
nomination,  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  was  upon  the  first  ballot, 


242  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  marked  an  era  in  the  history  of  national  conventions. 
His  candidacy  was  bitterly  antagonized  by  the  delegation 
from  his  own  State,  his  name  being  presented  by  Governor 
Abbott  of  New  Jersey.  It  is  a  fact  of  much  significance 
that  neither  in  the  platform  upon  which  he  was  nominated,  nor 
in  the  letter  of  acceptance,  was  there  the  slightest  departure 
from  his  emphatic  utterances  upon  the  tariff  in  the  memor 
able  message  of  1887.  The  salient  issues  of  the  campaign 
were  " tariff  reform"  and  hostility  to  the  then  pending  "Force 
bill."  From  first  to  last  Mr.  Cleveland  was  in  close  consulta 
tion  with  the  leaders  of  his  party  and  advised  as  to  every 
detail  of  the  contest.  The  result  was  a  vindication  of  his 
former  administration  and  an  unmistakable  endorsement  of 
the  tenets  of  the  Democratic  faith. 

In  this  brief  sketch,  there  can  be  but  slight  reference  to 
the  important  questions  which  now  for  four  years  engaged 
his  attention.  Almost  his  first  official  act  after  his  second 
inauguration  was  the  withdrawal  from  the  Senate  of  the 
Hawaiian  Annexation  Treaty  recently  submitted  by  President 
Harrison  for  ratification.  Firmly  believing  that  the  late 
United  States  Minister  to  the  unfortunate  island  had  at 
least  acquiesced  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Hawaiian  Govern 
ment,  President  Cleveland,  with  the  hope  that  he  might 
measurably  repair  the  wrong,  recalled  the  Annexation  Treaty, 
as  stated.  In  his  message  of  withdrawal  were  the  words:  "A 
great  wrong  has  been  done  to  a  feeble  and  independent  State." 
This  almost  forgotten  incident  is  now  recalled  only  to  empha 
size  the  spirit  of  justice  that  characterized  his  dealings  with 
foreign  Governments. 

And  yet  history  will  truly  say  of  him  that,  while  just  to 
other  Governments,  no  President  has  more  firmly  maintained 
the  rights  of  his  own.  This  assertion  finds  verification  in 
the  Venezuelan  message,  which,  for  the  moment,  almost 
startled  the  country.  By  many  it  was  for  the  time  believed 
to  be  the  prelude  to  war.  In  very  truth,  as  the  sequel  proved, 
it  was  a  message  of  peace.  It  was  a  critical  moment,  and  the 
necessity  imperative  for  prompt,  decisive  action.  If  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  was  to  be  maintained,  Great  Britain  could 


CLEVELAND  AS  I  KNEW  HIM  243 

not  be  permitted  arbitrarily  to  divest  Venezuela  of  any  por 
tion  of  her  territory.  The  arbitration  proposed  by  President 
Cleveland,  resulting  in  peaceable  adjustment,  established 
what  we  may  well  believe  will  prove  an  enduring  precedent. 
One  sentence  of  the  memorable  message  is  worthy  of  remem 
brance  by  the  oncoming  generations:  "The  Monroe  Doctrine 
was  intended  to  apply  to  every  stage  of  our  national  life,  and 
cannot  become  obsolete  while  our  Republic  endures." 

I  had  excellent  opportunities  to  know  Mr.  Cleveland.  I 
was  a  member  of  the  first  and  third  conventions  which  named 
him  for  the  Presidency,  and  actively  engaged  in  both  the  con 
tests  that  resulted  in  his  election.  As  assistant  Postmaster- 
General  during  his  first  term,  and  Vice-President  during  the 
second,  I  was  often  "the  neighbor  to  his  counsels."  I  am 
confident  that  a  more  conscientious,  painstaking  official  never 
filled  public  station.  In  his  appointments  to  office  his  chief 
aim  was  to  subserve  the  public  interests  by  judicious  selec 
tions.  The  question  of  rewarding  party  service,  while  by  no 
means  ignored,  was  immeasurably  subordinate  to  that  of  the 
integrity  and  efficiency  of  the  applicant.  He  was  patriotic  to 
the  core,  and  it  was  his  earnest  desire  that  the  last  vestige  of 
legislation  inimical  to  the  Southern  States  should  pass  from 
the  statute  books.  He  did  much  toward  the  restoration  of 
complete  concord  between  all  sections  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Cleveland  possessed  a  kind  heart,  and  was  ever  just 
and  generous  in  his  dealings.  Wholly  unostentatious  himself, 
the  humblest  felt  at  ease  in  his  presence.  Possibly  no  incum 
bent  of  the  great  office  was  more  easily  accessible  to  all  classes 
and  conditions.  Courteous  at  all  times,  no  guards  were 
necessary  to  the  preservation  of  his  dignity.  No  one  would 
have  thought  of  undue  familiarity. 

He  was  a  profound  student  of  all  that  pertained  to  human 
affairs.  He  had  given  deep  thought  to  the  science  of  govern 
ment,  and  was  familiar  with  the  best  that  had  been  written 
on  the  subject.  Caring  little  for  the  light  literature  of  the  day, 
his  concern  was  with  the  practical  knowledge  bearing  upon 
existing  conditions  and  that  might  aid  in  the  solution  of  the 
ever-recurring  problems  confronting  men  in  responsible  posi- 


XIX 
A  UNANIMOUS   CHOICE   FOR   SPEAKER 

A  MEETING  OF  PROSPECTIVE  SPEAKERS  —  DR.  ROGERS  WITHIN 
SIGHT  OF  THE  GOAL  OF  HIS  AMBITION  —  HE  STATES  THE 
GROUND  OF  HIS  HOPE  —  THE  FOUNDATION  PROVES  TO  BE 
ONLY  SAND  —  A  TEMPEST  CALMED  BY  THE  DOCTOR. 

AT  a  banquet  in  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1880-81,  a 
large  number  of  Representatives  were  present.  Among 
the  number  were  Reed,  McKinley,  Cannon,  and  Keifer. 
These  gentlemen  were  all  prospective  candidates  for  the 
Speakership  of  the  then  recently  elected  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  The  best  of  feeling  prevailed,  and  the  occasion 
was  one  of  rare  enjoyment  and  mirth.  Each  candidate  in 
turn  was  introduced  by  the  toast-master  as  "the  Speaker  of 
the  next  House,"  and  in  his  speech  each  claimed  all  the  others 
as  his  enthusiastic  and  reliable  supporters.  The  apparent 
confidence  of  each  candidate  in  the  support  of  his  rivals  re 
minded  Mr.  Cannon  of  the  experience  of  an  Illinois  legislator, 
which  he  requested  his  colleague  from  the  Bloomington  dis 
trict  to  relate. 

That  the  reader  may  appreciate  the  incident  then  related, 
some  mention  must  be  made  of  Dr.  Thomas  P.  Rogers  of 
Bloomington.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  a 
politician  from  the  beginning,  of  inflexible  integrity  and  an 
earnestness  of  purpose  that  knew  no  shadow  of  turning.  He 
was  as  devoid  of  any  possible  touch  of  humor  as  was  his 
own  marble  bust  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  the  personal 
friend  of  Lincoln  and  of  Douglas,  and  the  political  follower  of 
the  latter.  The  fondness  of  a  mother  for  her  first-born 
hardly  exceeded  that  of  Dr.  Rogers  for  the  party  of  his  choice. 
Any  uncomplimentary  allusion  to  his  "principles"  was  consid 
ered  a  personal  injury,  and  his  devotion  to  party  leaders, 
from  Jackson  to  Douglas,  savored  of  idolatry.  Some  camp- 
meeting  experiences  in  early  life  had  given  zest  and  tone 

246 


CLEVELAND  AS  I  KNEW  HIM  245 

home,  by  invitation  of  the  superintendent,  Mr.  Cleveland 
visited  the  State  Asylum  for  the  Blind  at  Nebraska  City. 
In  his  brief  address  to  the  unfortunate  inmates  of  the  in 
stitution,  Mr.  Cleveland  mentioned  the  fact  that  in  his  early 
life  he  had  been  for  some  time  a  teacher  in  an  asylum  for  the 
blind,  and  spoke  of  his  profound  interest  in  whatever  con 
cerned  their  welfare.  I  have  heard  him  many  times,  but 
never  when  he  appeared  to  better  advantage,  or  evinced  such 
depth  of  feeling  as  upon  this  occasion. 

The  passing  of  Cleveland  marks  an  epoch.  He  was  indeed 
a  striking  figure  hi  American  history.  Take  him  all  in  all, 
we  may  not  look  upon  his  like  again.  The  "good  citizen 
ship,  "  an  expression  frequently  on  his  lips,  to  which  he  would 
have  his  countrymen  aspire,  was  of  the  noblest,  and  no  man 
had  a  clearer  or  loftier  conception  of  the  responsible  and 
sacred  character  of  public  station.  With  him  the  oft-quoted 
words,  "A  public  office  is  a  public  trust,"  was  no  mere  lip- 
service.  His  will  be  a  large  place  in  history.  His  administra 
tion  of  the  government  will  safely  endure  the  test  of  time. 

"  Whatever  record  leaps  to  light, 
He  never  can  be  shamed." 

In  victory  or  defeat,  in  office  or  out,  he  was  true  to  his 
own  self  and  to  his  ideals.  His  early  struggles,  his  firmness 
of  purpose,  his  determination  that  knew  no  shadow  of  waver 
ing,  his  exalted  aims,  and  the  success  that  ultimately  crowned 
his  efforts  have  given  him  high  place  among  statesmen,  and 
will  be  a  continuing  inspiration  to  the  oncoming  generations 
of  his  countrymen. 


XIX 
A  UNANIMOUS   CHOICE   FOR   SPEAKER 

A    MEETING    OF    PROSPECTIVE    SPEAKERS  —  DR.    ROGERS    WITHIN 
SIGHT    OF    THE    GOAL    OF    HIS    AMBITION  —  HE    STATES    THE 

GROUND    OF    HIS    HOPE THE    FOUNDATION    PROVES    TO    BE 

ONLY   SAND A    TEMPEST    CALMED    BY    THE    DOCTOR. 

AT  a  banquet  in  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1880-81,  a 
large  number  of  Representatives  were  present.  Among 
the  number  were  Reed,  McKinley,  Cannon,  and  Keifer. 
These  gentlemen  were  all  prospective  candidates  for  the 
Speakership  of  the  then  recently  elected  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  The  best  of  feeling  prevailed,  and  the  occasion 
was  one  of  rare  enjoyment  and  mirth.  Each  candidate  in 
turn  was  introduced  by  the  toast-master  as  "the  Speaker  of 
the  next  House/'  and  in  his  speech  each  claimed  all  the  others 
as  his  enthusiastic  and  reliable  supporters.  The  apparent 
confidence  of  each  candidate  in  the  support  of  his  rivals  re 
minded  Mr.  Cannon  of  the  experience  of  an  Illinois  legislator, 
which  he  requested  his  colleague  from  the  Bloomington  dis 
trict  to  relate. 

That  the  reader  may  appreciate  the  incident  then  related, 
some  mention  must  be  made  of  Dr.  Thomas  P.  Rogers  of 
Bloomington.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  a 
politician  from  the  beginning,  of  inflexible  integrity  and  an 
earnestness  of  purpose  that  knew  no  shadow  of  turning.  He 
was  as  devoid  of  any  possible  touch  of  humor  as  was  his 
own  marble  bust  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  the  personal 
friend  of  Lincoln  and  of  Douglas,  and  the  political  follower  of 
the  latter.  The  fondness  of  a  mother  for  her  first-born 
hardly  exceeded  that  of  Dr.  Rogers  for  the  party  of  his  choice. 
Any  uncomplimentary  allusion  to  his  "principles"  was  consid 
ered  a  personal  injury,  and  his  devotion  to  party  leaders, 
from  Jackson  to  Douglas,  savored  of  idolatry.  Some  camp- 
meeting  experiences  in  early  life  had  given  zest  and  tone 

246 


A  UNANIMOUS  CHOICE  FOB  SPEAKER        247 

to  his  style  of  oratory,  which  stood  him  well  in  hand  hi  his 
many  political  encounters  of  a  later  day. 

For  three  consecutive  terms  the  Doctor  had  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Legislature,  and  his  record  from  every  point  of 
view  was  without  a  blemish.  At  his  fourth  election,  it  was 
found  that  for  the  first  time  for  a  decade  or  more  his  party 
had  secured  a  majority  in  the  House,  to  which  the  Doctor 
had  just  been  elected.  The  goal  of  his  ambition  was  the 
Speakership,  and  it  truly  seemed  that  his  hour  had  now  come. 

Soon  after  these  facts  were  known  beyond  peradventure, 
the  Doctor  came  one  day  into  my  office.  After  election 
matters  had  been  talked  over  at  length  and  with  much  satis 
faction,  the  Doctor  modestly  intimated  a  desire  to  be  a  can 
didate  for  the  Speakership.  I  at  once  gave  him  the  promise 
of  my  earnest  support  and  inquired  whether  he  had  any 
friends  upon  whom  he  could  rely  in  the  approaching  caucus. 
He  assured  me  that  there  were  four  members  of  the  last 
House  reflected  to  this,  upon  whom  he  knew  he  could  ab 
solutely  depend  under  all  circumstances.  Upon  my  inquiry 
as  to  their  names,  he  said : 

"Hadlai,"  —  the  Doctor,  it  may  be  here  mentioned,  had 
from  my  boyhood  kindly  given  me  the  benefit  of  an  "H"  to 
which  I  laid  no  claim  and  was  in  no  way  entitled  —  "Had 
lai,  you  take  your  pencil  and  take  down  their  names  as  I 
give  them  to  you." 

I  at  once  took  my  seat,  and  pencil  in  hand,  looked  in 
quiringly  toward  the  Doctor. 

"  Hadlai,"  he  continued,  "  put  down  Heise  of  Cook.  John 
and  I  have  been  friends  for  more  than  thirty  years;  I  worked 
for  him  for  a  delegate-at-large  to  the  last  National  Convention, 
and  he  told  me  then,  '  Doctor,  if  there  is  anything  I  can  do 
for  you,  just  let  me  know.'  ' 

To  which  I  replied,  "  Heise  of  Cook,  dead  sure,"  and  his 
name  was  at  once  placed  in  the  Rogers  column. 

"Now,  Hadlai,"  continued  the  Doctor,  "There  is  Arm 
strong  of  La  Salle;  Wash  and  I  were  boys  together  hi  Ohio, 
and  sat  side  by  side  in  the  Charleston  Convention  when  we 
were  trying  to  nominate  Douglas.  He  has  told  me  more 


248  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

than  once  that  if  ever  we  carried  the  House,  he  was  for  me 
for  Speaker  above  any  man  on  earth. "  At  which  I  unhes 
itatingly  placed  Armstrong  of  La  Salle  in  the  same  column 
with  Heise  of  Cook. 

"Now,  Hadlai,"  continued  the  Doctor,  after  a  moment's 
pause,  "there  is  Cummins  of  Fulton;  I  helped  elect  Jim  Chair 
man  of  the  last  State  Convention,  and  he  has  told  me  again 
and  again  that  he  hoped  he  would  live  to  see  me  Speaker,  so 
I  can  count  on  Jim  without  doubt." 

I  at  once  placed  Cummins  in  the  column  of  honor 
with  Heise  and  Armstrong,  and  calmly  awaited  further 
instructions. 

"Now,  Hadlai,  there  is  Moore  of  Adams;  Alf  got  into 
trouble  over  a  bill  he  had  in  the  last  Legislature;  he  could 
neither  get  it  out  of  the  committee,  nor  the  committee  to  take 
any  action,  so  he  came  over  to  my  seat  terribly  worried,  and 
says  he,  'Doctor,  for  God's  sake,  get  me  out  of  this!'  I  did, 
Hadlai,  and  Alf  was  the  most  grateful  man  you  ever  saw  on 
earth,  and  told  me  then,  'Doctor,  I  would  get  up  at  two 
o'clock  at  night  to  do  you  a  favor.'  I  can  safely  count  on  him." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Moore  of  Adams  rounded  out  the 
quartette  of  faithful  supporters. 

"Now,  Hadlai,"  remarked  the  Doctor,  after  contemplating 
with  apparent  satisfaction  the  list  I  had  handed  him,  "if 
you  will  give  me  some  paper  and  envelopes  and  a  pen 
and  some  stamps,  if  you  have  them  handy,  I  will  write 
to  all  of  them  now."  The  articles  mentioned  were  pro 
duced,  the  letters  written,  stamped,  and  duly  mailed,  and 
the  good  Doctor  departed  in  an  exceedingly  comfortable 
frame  of  mind. 

Time  passed,  as  is  its  wont;  but  for  some  weeks  I  neither 
saw  nor  heard  from  the  Doctor.  Meeting  him  on  the  street 
at  length,  I  at  once  inquired  whether  he  had  received  replies 
to  his  letters. 

"Come  into  the  office,  Hadlai,  and  I  will  explain."  Pained 
to  observe  that  the  tone  and  air  of  confidence  so  perceptible 
in  our  last  interview  was  lacking,  I  followed  with  some  mis 
giving  into  his  office. 


A  UNANIMOUS  CHOICE  FOR  SPEAKER          S49 

"Yes,  Hadlai,"  he  slowly  began,  "I  have  heard  from  all 
of  them.  Heise  of  Cook  [the  familiar  appellations  of  the 
former  interview  were  wanting]  writes  assuring  me  that  there 
is  no  man  living  for  whom  he  entertains  a  more  profound 
respect  than  for  myself,  Hadlai;  but  that  owing  to  unforeseen 
complications  arising  in  his  county,  he  has  reluctantly  con 
sented  to  allow  his  own  name  to  be  presented  to  the  caucus." 

The  name  of  Heise  of  Cook  was  immediately  stricken 
from  the  head  of  the  list.  Then  a  reverie  into  which  the 
Doctor  had  fallen  was  at  length  disturbed  by  my  inquiry, 

"What  about  Armstrong?" 

"Yes,  Hadlai,  Armstrong  of  La  Salle  writes  me  that  in 
his  judgment  there  is  no  man  living  so  deserving  of  the  grat 
itude  of  the  party,  or  so  well  qualified  for  the  office  of 
Speaker  as  myself,  but  that  the  pressure  from  his  constitu 
ents  has  been  so  great  that  he  has  finally  consented  to  allow 
his  own  name  to  be  presented  to  the  caucus." 

"Fare-you-well,  Mr.  Armstrong,"  was  my  hurried  ob 
servation,  as  the  name  of  that  gentleman  disappeared  from 
my  list. 

Arousing  the  Doctor  at  length  from  the  reverie  into 
which  he  had  again  fallen,  I  ventured  to  inquire  as  to 
the  state  of  mind  of  Mr.  Cummins. 

"Yes,  Hadlai,  Cummins  of  Fulton  says  that  in  a  certain 
contingency  he  will  himself  be  a  candidate,  and  Moore  of 
Adams  writes  me  that  he  is  a  candidate!" 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  supplement  this  little  narra 
tive  by  relating  an  incident  that  illustrates  the  fact  that  a 
man  wholly  devoid  of  any  sense  of  humor  himself  may  at 
times  be  the  unconscious  cause  of  amusement  to  others. 

Imprimis:  The  Doctor,  while  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly,  voted  for  a  measure  known  in  local  parlance  as 
"The  Lake  Front  Bill."  The  criticism  which  followed  vexed 
his  righteous  soul,  and  he  patiently  awaited  the  opportunity 
for  public  explanation  and  personal  vindication. 

Now  it  so  fell  out  that  at  the  time  whereof  we  write  there 
was  much  excitement  —  a  tempest  in  a  tea-pot  —  in  the 
little  city  of  Bloomington,  over  a  change  in  "readers"  recently 


250  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

ordered  in  the  schools  by  the  Board  of  Education.  After 
much  discussion  on  the  streets  and  at  the  corners,  a  public 
indignation  meeting  was  called  for  Saturday  evening  at  the 
east  door  of  the  Court-house.  Meanwhile  the  indignation 
against  the  offending  Board  intensified,  and  there  was  some 
apprehension  even  of  serious  trouble.  At  the  appointed 
time  and  place,  the  meeting  assembled  and  was  duly  organized 
by  the  selection  of  a  Chairman.  Calls  at  once  began  for  well- 
known  orators  at  the  bar  and  upon  the  hustings.  "Ewing," 
"Fifer,"  "Rowell,"  "Prince,"  "Lillard,"  "Phillips,"  "Ker- 
rick,"  "Weldon,"  were  heard  from  the  crowd  in  rapid  succes 
sion.  It  was  like  "calling  spirits  from  the  vasty  deep."  No 
response  was  given,  no  orator  appeared;  and,  as  is  well  known, 
an  indignation  meeting  without  an  orator  is  as  impossible 
as  "Hamlet"  with  the  Prince  of  Denmark  omitted. 
But  sure  enough, — 

"  Fortune  sometimes  brings  in  boats  that  are  not  steered." 

At  the  auspicious  moment,  from  the  rear  of  the  crowd  Tom 
Hullinger  called  out,  "Doctor  Rogers,  Doctor  Rogers!"  The 
hour  had  struck.  Without  waiting  further  call,  the  Doctor 
promptly  took  the  stand  and  waiving  the  formality  of  an  in 
troduction,  began: 

"I  am  deeply  gratified  to  have  this  opportunity  to  explain 
to  my  fellow-citizens  who  have  known  me  from  my  early 
manhood  my  vote  upon  the  Lake  Front  Bill,"  and  a  two- 
hour  vindication  immediately  followed.  No  allusion  being 
made  to  the  object  of  the  meeting,  or  the  change  of  school- 
books,  of  which  the  Doctor  knew  as  little  and  cared  as  little 
as  he  did  of  the  thirteenth  century  controversy  between  the 
Guelphs  and  the  Ghibellines,  with  the  waning  hours  the  ex 
citement  subsided.  The  change  of  readers  became  a  dead 
issue;  the  era  of  good  feeling  was  restored;  and  to  this 
blessed  hour,  except  in  a  spirit  of  mirth,  the  school-book 
question  has  never  been  mentioned. 


XX 

A  LAWYER  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL 

JUDGE  ARRINGTON,  THE  IDEAL  LAWYER  —  EULOGIZED  BY  OTHER 
JUDGES  —  BOOKS  HIS  EARLY  COMPANIONS  —  BECOMES  SUC 
CESSIVELY  A  METHODIST  PREACHER,  A  LAWYER,  AND  A  JUDGE 

—  WRITES    SOME    SKETCHES   OF    LIFE    IN   THE    SOUTHWEST 

HIS  APOSTROPHE  TO  WATER  RECITED  BY  GOUGH. 

IN  the  old  Supreme  Court-room  at  Ottawa,  almost  a  half- 
century  ago,  I  saw  and  heard  Judge  Alfred  W.  Arrington 
for  the  first  time.  For  two  hours  I  listened  with  the 
deepest  attention  to  his  masterly  argument  in  a  cause  then 
exciting  much  interest  because  of  the  large  amount  involved. 
The  dry  question  of  law  under  discussion,  "  as  if  touched  by 
the  enchanter's  wand,"  was  at  once  invested  with  an  inter 
est  far  beyond  its  wont.  As  I  listened  to  the  argument  of 
Judge  Arrington,  and  witnessed  the  manner  of  its  delivery, 
he  appeared  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense  the  ideal 
lawyer.  He  seemed,  indeed,  as  he  probably  was,  the  sole  sur 
vivor  of  the  school  of  which  Wirt  and  Pinckney  were  three 
generations  ago  the  typical  representatives.  His  dignified 
bearing,  old-time  apparel,  and  lofty  courtesy  toward  the 
Court  and  opposing  counsel,  all  strengthened  this  impres 
sion.  He  had  a  highly  attractive  appearance,  and  as  was  said 
by  a  contemporary,  "to  crown  all,  a  massive  Websterian 
forehead,  needing  no  seal  to  give  the  world  assurance  of 
a  man." 

"  Sage  he  stood, 

With  Atlantean  shoulders,  fit  to  bear 
The  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies;  his  look 
Drew  audience  and  attention  still  as  night 
Or  summer's  noontide  air." 

Since  then  I  have  listened  to  advocates  of  national  renown 
in  our  great  court  and  in  the  Senate  sitting  as  a  High  Court 
of  Impeachment,  but  at  no  time  or  place  have  I  heard  an 
abler,  more  scholarly,  or  more  eloquent  argument  than  that 

251 


252          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  Judge  Arlington  in  the  old  court-room  at  Ottawa,  Illinois, 
on  that  day  long  gone  by. 

The  most  eminent  members  of  the  Chicago  bar  were  the 
eulogists  of  Judge  Arlington  when  he  passed  to  his  grave, 
near  the  close  of  the  great  Civil  War.  Judge  Wilson,  in 
presenting  resolutions  in  honor  of  the  deceased,  voiced  the 
sentiments  of  his  associates  when  he  said : 

"  For  more  than  thirty  years  at  the  bar  and  upon  the  bench, 
I  have  been  associated  with  the  legal  profession;  and  I  may 
say  without  offence  that  of  the  many  able  men  I  have  known 
I  regard  Judge  Arlington,  take  him  all  in  all,  as  the  ablest." 

The  venerable  Judge  Drummond  said: 

"I  have  rarely  heard  a  man  whose  efforts  so  constantly 
riveted  the  attention  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  his  dis 
course.  For  while  he  trod  with  firm  and  steady  steps  the  path 
of  logic,  his  vivid  imagination  was  constantly  scattering  on  each 
side  flowers  of  fragrant  beauty,  to  the  wonder  and  delight  of  all 
who  heard  him.  He  was  a  great  lawyer  in  the  highest  and  largest 
sense  of  the  term  —  great  in  the  extent  and  thoroughness  of  his 
legal  learning,  in  the  vigor  and  acuteness  of  his  reasoning,  and 
in  the  power  of  his  eloquence." 

The  Hon.  Melville  W.  Fuller,  the  present  Chief  Justice  of 
the  United  States,  said: 

"  When  he  arose  to  discuss  a  question,  he  exhibited  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  every  phase  in  which  it  could  be  presented;  and 
men  never  grew  weary  (especially  if  the  argument  involved 
Constitutional  construction,  in  which  department  he  stood 
primus  inter  illustres)  of  admiring  the  amplitude  of  his  legal 
attainments,  the  accuracy  of  his  learning,  the  compactness  of 
his  logic,  and  the  majestic  flow  of  his  eloquence,  and  more  than 
all,  that  firmnes  and  breadth  of  mind  which  lifted  him  above 
the  ordinary  contest  of  the  forum. 

"  It  is  a  source  of  the  deepest  consolation  that  he  found  peace 
at  the  last;  that  that  grand  spirit,  before  it  took  its  everlasting 
flight,  reposed  in  confidence  on  the  Book  of  Books;  that  its 
departure  was  illumined  by  that  precious  light  which  ever  ren 
ders  radiant  the  brief  darkness  'twixt  mortal  twilight  and  im 
mortal  dawn." 

And  yet,  alas,  his  name  has  now  almost  passed  from  the 
memories  of  men;  the  veil  of  time  has  settled  over  him;  no 


A  LAWYER  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL  853 

distinct  image  is  recalled  by  the  mention  of  his  name.    How 
suggestive  this,  of  the  ephemeral  fame  of  even  a  great  lawyer: 

"  Swift  as  a  shadow,  short  as  any  dream, 
Brief  as  the  lightning  in  the  collied  night." 

Words  long  since  uttered  by  an  eminent  jurist  have  not 
lost  their  significance: 

"There  is,  perhaps,  no  reputation  that  can  be  achieved 
amongst  men  that  is  so  transitory,  so  evanescent,  as  that  of  a 
great  advocate.  The  very  wand  that  enchants  us  is  magical. 
Its  effects  can  be  felt;  it  influences  our  actions;  it  controls  and 
possesses  us;  but  to  define  it,  or  tell  what  it  is,  or  how  it  produces 
these  effects,  is  as  far  beyond  our  power  as  to  imprison  the  sun 
beam.  In  the  presence  of  such  majestic  power  we  can  only 
stand  awed  and  silent." 

There  was  much  of  romance,  and  somewhat  of  mystery, 
that  gathered  about  the  life  of  Judge  Arrington.  Born  of 
humble  parentage  in  the  pine  forests  of  North  Carolina,  with 
no  advantages  other  than  those  common  in  the  remoter  parts 
of  our  country  a  century  ago,  from  the  beginning  he  appar 
ently  dwelt  apart  from  the  conditions  surrounding  him.  At 
an  early  age  he  removed  with  his  father's  family  to  the  then 
wilds  of  the  Southwest. 

There,  upon  the  very  border  line  of  civilization,  his  asso 
ciates  for  a  time  were  the  advance  guard,  the  adventurers 
and  soldiers  of  fortune  that  in  a  large  measure  constituted  the 
civilization  of  the  southwestern  frontier  during  the  early 
years  of  the  last  century.  With  his  early  environment,  his 
subsequent  career  seems  a  marvel.  It  can  only  be  explained 
upon  the  supposition  that  though  with  them,  he  was  not  of  them. 
"His  soul  was  like  a  star,  and  dwelt  apart." 

His  companions  were  his  books.  Denied  the  advantages 
of  early  scholastic  training,  he  was,  from  the  beginning,  an 
omnivorous  reader.  He  cared  little  for  the  allurements  and 
excitement  of  society.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  joined  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  was  soon  after  licensed  to 
preach.  For  four  years  he  rode  the  circuit,  enduring  all  the 
discomforts  and  dangers  then  and  there  incident  to  his  calling. 
His  field  may  be  called  the  Ultima  Thule,  bordering  upon  the 
Rio  Grande  and  inhabited  by  Indians.  Untutored  audiences 


254          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

were  stirred  to  the  depths  by  his  fervid  appeals.  Church 
buildings  were  yet  in  the  future;  the  congregations  assembled 
in  God's  first  temples,  and  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  the 
fiery  eloquence  of  the  delicate,  youthful  messenger,  whose 
soul  seemed  on  fire. 

A  gentleman  who  had  heard  Arrington  writes: 

"  He  was  then  young,  delicate,  as  brilliant  as  a  comet,  and 
almost  as  erratic.  Without  research  or  mental  discipline,  he 
could  electrify  an  audience  beyond  all  living  men,  and  arouse  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  heard  him  the  wildest  enthusiasm." 

For  some  cause,  possibly  never  to  be  explained,  he  sud 
denly  abandoned  the  ministry,  began  the  study  of  the  law, 
and  when  a  little  past  the  age  of  twenty-one,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  After  some  years  of  successful  practice  in  the 
rude  frontier  courts  of  Arkansas,  he  removed  to  Texas,  where 
he  was  soon  appointed  a  judge,  and  assigned  to  the  Rio  Grande 
circuit.  In  addition  to  his  judicial  labors,  he  now  wrote  and 
published  some  graphic  and  interesting  sketches  of  border 
life,  vivid  pictures  of  conditions  then  existing  in  the  South 
west  among  a  people  the  like  of  which  we  shall  not  see  again, 
a  people  upon  whom  the  restraints  and  amenities  of  civilized 
life  sat  but  lightly,  who  were  in  large  degree  a  law  unto  them 
selves,  and  with  whom  revenge  was  virtue. 

One  of  his  publications,  "Paul  Den  ton,"  still  has  a  place 
in  many  of  our  libraries.  It  is,  in  part,  a  narrative  of  the 
thrilling  experiences  of  an  early  Methodist  circuit-rider  —  pre 
sumably  himself  —  upon  the  southwest  border.  In  this  will 
be  found  his  marvellous  apostrophe  to  water,  which,  as  was 
said  by  Judge  Dent,  "was  so  familiar  to  the  lecture-going 
public  of  the  last  generation  owing  to  its  frequent  declamation 
from  the  rostrum  by  the  temperance  lecturer,  Gough." 

The  hero  of  the  book,  Paul  Den  ton,  had  been  announced  to 
preach  at  a  famous  Spring,  where  "  plenty  of  good  liquor"  was 
promised  to  all  who  would  attend.  During  the  sermon,  a 
desperado  demanded:  "Mr.  Denton,  where  is  the  liquor  you 
promised?" 

"There!"  answered  the  preacher  in  tones  of  thunder,  and 
pointing-  his  motionless  finger  at  a  spring  gushing  up  in  two 


A  LAWYER  OF  THE  OLD  SCHOOL  255 

strong  columns  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth  with  a  sound  like 
a  shout  of  joy.  " There,"  he  repeated,  "  there  is  the  liquor 
which  God  the  Eternal  brews  for  all  his  children.  Not  in 
the  simmering  still  over  the  smoky  fires  choked  with  poisonous 
gases,  surrounded  with  stench  of  sickening  odors  and  corrup 
tions,  doth  your  Father  in  heaven  prepare  the  precious  essence 
of  life  —  pure  cold  water;  but  in  the  green  glade  and  grassy 
dell,  where  the  red-deer  wanders  and  the  child  loves  to  play, 
there  God  brews  it;  and  down,  low  down,  in  the  deepest 
valleys,  where  the  fountains  murmur,  and  the  rills  sigh,  and 
high  upon  the  mountain-tops  where  the  naked  granite  glitters 
like  gold  in  the  sun,  where  the  storm-cloud  broods  and  the 
thunder-storms  crash;  and  far  out  on  the  wide,  wild  sea,  where 
the  hurricane  howls  music  and  the  big  waves  roll  the  chorus, 
sweeping  the  march  of  God  —  there  he  brews  it,  the  beverage 
of  life,  health-giving  water. 

"  And  everywhere  it  is  a  thing  of  life  and  beauty  —  gleam 
ing  in  the  dew-drop;  singing  in  the  summer  rain;  shining  in 
the  ice  gem  till  the  trees  all  seem  turned  to  living  jewels; 
spreading  a  golden  veil  over  the  sun  or  a  white  gauze  around 
the  midnight  moon;  sporting  in  the  glacier;  folding  its  bright 
enow-curtain  softly  about  the  wintry  world;  and  weaving  the 
many-colored  bow  whose  warp  is  the  rain-drops  of  earth, 
whose  woof  is  the  sunbeam  of  heaven,  all  checkered  over 
with  the  mystic  hand  of  refraction. 

"  Still  it  is  beautiful,  that  blessed  lif e- water !  No  poisonous 
bubbles  are  on  its  brink;  its  foam  brings  not  murder  and  mad 
ness;  no  blood  stains  its  liquid  glass;  pale  widows  and  starving 
orphans  weep  not  burning  tears  into  its  depths;  no  drunkard's 
shrieking  ghost  from  the  grave  curses  it  in  the  world  of  eternal 
despair.  Beautiful,  pure,  blessed,  and  glorious.  Speak  out, 
my  friends,  would  you  exchange  it  for  the  demon's  drink, 
alcohol?" 

In  Calvary  Cemetery,  Chicago,  rests  all  that  is  mortal  of 
Judge  Arrington. 

"Tread  lightly  on  his  ashes,  ye  men  of  genius,  for 

he  was  your  kinsman! 

Weed  clean  his  grave,  ye  men  of  goodness,  for 
he  was  your  brother  I" 


XXI 
HIGH   DEBATE   IN  THE   MOUNTAINS 

COLONEL  WOOLPORD,  A  HERO  UNDER  GENERAL  ZACHARY  TAYLOR 
—  HIS  MANNER  OF  FIGHTING  —  HI8  DEFENCE  OF  A  YOUTH 
CHARGED  WITH  MURDER  —  HE  MAKES  A  SPEECH  THAT  IN 
FURIATES  GENERAL  FRY. 

ONE  of  the  men  not  easily  forgotten  was  the  Hon.  Frank 
Woolford,  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  mountains 
of  Kentucky  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  He 
was  without  reservation  a  typical  mountaineer.  He  practised 
law  in  the  local  courts,  and  was  prominent  in  the  politics  of 
his  State.  His  style  of  oratory  bore  little  resemblance  to  that 
of  the  British  House  of  Lords.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in  two 
wars,  and  his  dauntless  courage  and  inexhaustible  good 
humor  made  him  the  idol  of  his  comrades.  He  had  been  of 
the  heroic  band  of  "Old  Rough  and  Ready"  that  repelled 
the  charge  of  twenty  thousand  lancers  under  Santa  Ana  at 
Buena  Vista.  He  was  as  brave  as  Marshal  Ney,  and  it  was 
said  of  him  that  the  battle-field  was  his  home  as  the  upper  air 
was  that  of  the  eagle. 

He  promptly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Union  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  chosen  Colonel  of  a  mounted 
regiment  gathered  from  his  own  and  adjacent  counties.  He 
knew  how  to  fight,  but  of  the  science  of  war  as  taught  in 
the  schools  he  was  as  ignorant  as  the  grave.  It  was  said 
that  his  entire  tactics  were  embraced  in  two  commands: 
"Huddle  and  fight,"  and  "Scatter."  When  the  first  was 
heard  his  men  "huddled  and  fit";  and  when  retreat  was  the 
only  possible  salvation,  the  command  to  "scatter"  was  obeyed 
with  equal  alacrity.  Each  man  was  now  for  himself,  and 
"devil  take  the  hindmost"  for  a  time,  but  the  sound  of  Wool- 
ford's  bugle  never  failed  to  secure  prompt  falling  into  line 
at  the  auspicious  moment.  "Woolford's  cavalry"  was  the 

256 


HIGH  DEBATE  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS  257 

synonym  for  daring,  even  at  the  time  when  the  recital  of  the 
deeds  of  brave  men  filled  the  world's  great  ear. 

Woolford  and  his  troopers  were  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight 
at  Mill  Spring,  where  Zollicoffer  fell;  later,  they  hung  upon  the 
flanks  of  Bragg  on  his  retreat  southward  from  the  bloody 
field  of  Perryville.  More  than  once  during  those  troublous 
times  our  hero  was  a  "  foeman  worthy  the  steel "  of  John  Mor 
gan,  Forrest,  and  the  gallant  Joe  Wheeler  of  world  renown. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  Colonel  Woolford  returned  to  his 
mountain  home  and  was  in  due  time  elected  a  Representative 
in  Congress.  Years  later,  with  life  well  rounded  out,  he  met 
the  only  foe  to  whom  he  ever  surrendered,  and  lamented 
by  all,  passed  to  the  beyond. 

Some  faint  idea  of  Colonel  Woolford's  style  of  eloquence 
at  the  bar  may  possibly  be  gathered  from  the  following.  He 
was  retained  to  defend  a  half-grown,  illiterate  youth  under 
indictment  for  murder.  The  crime  was  committed  near 
"  Jim  town,"  but  by  a  change  of  venue  the  trial  took  place  at 
Danville,  in  the  neighboring  county  of  Boyle.  Danville,  it 
must  be  remembered,  was  the  Athens  of  Kentucky.  It  was 
the  seat  of  Centre  College,  of  a  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary,  and  of  more  than  one  of  the  public  institutions  of 
the  State.  It  was  the  home  of  men  of  prominence  and  wealth, 
and  for  three  generations  had  been  renowned  for  the  high 
character,  attainments,  and  culture  of  its  people. 

In  his  speech  to  the  jury  in  behalf  of  his  unfortunate  client, 
the  Colonel  insisted  that  the  poor  boy  at  the  bar  of  justice, 
born  and  reared  in  the  mountains,  without  any  of  the  advan 
tages  of  churches  and  schools,  was  not  to  be  held  in  the  same 
degree  responsible  as  if  his  lot  had  been  cast  in  Danville. 
In  his  argument  he  said: 

"Here  you  have  your  schools,  your  Centre  College,  your 
Theological  Seminary,  your  churches.  Every  third  man  you 
meet  on  the  streets  is  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  others  are 
all  teachers  in  the  Sunday  school.  Here  you  have  your  great 
preachers,  Young,  Green,  Humphreys,  Yerkes,  Robertson, 
Breckenridge — in  fact,  Presbyterianism  to  your  hearts'  content 
in  the  very  air.  But  this  poor  boy  has  known  nothing  of  these 
things.  O  gentlemen,  what  might  not  this  poor  boy  have  been, 


258  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  what  might  not  poor  Jimtown  have  been,  with  all  thest 
advantages?" 

Throwing  up  his  arms,  in  tragic  tones  he  exclaimed: 

"  Oh,  Jimtown!  Jimtown!  Had  the  mighty  things  that  have 
been  done  in  Danville  been  done  in  thee,  thou  wouldst  long 
since  have  repented  in  sackcloth  and  ashes! " 

The  incident  which  I  shall  now  relate  was  told  me  by 
my  kinsman,  General  S.  S.  Fry  of  Danville.  He  and  Colonel 
Woolford  were  friends  from  boyhood,  and  comrades  in  the 
Mexican  and  Civil  wars.  Their  party  affiliations,  however, 
were  different,  General  Fry  being  a  Republican,  and  Colonel 
Woolford  a  Democrat. 

During  the  reconstruction  period,  soon  after  the  close  of 
the  Civil  war,  a  barbecue  was  given  to  the  Colonel,  then  a 
candidate  for  Congress,  in  one  of  the  mountain  counties  of  his 
district.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  Colonel  was  to  be  the 
orator  of  the  occasion. 

In  order,  if  possible,  to  counteract  the  evil  effect  of  his 
speech,  the  Republican  State  Committee  requested  General 
Fry  to  attend  the  barbecue,  and  engage  Colonel  Woolford  in 
public  debate.  In  compliance  with  this  request,  General  Fry, 
after  a  horseback  ride  of  many  hours,  put  in  an  appearance  at 
the  appointed  time  and  place.  The  attendance  was  general; 
the  people  of  the  entire  county,  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages 
and  conditions,  were  there.  The  barbecue  was  well  under 
way  when  General  Fry  arrived.  A  table  of  rough  boards  and 
of  sufficient  length  had  been  constructed,  and  was  literally 
covered  with  savory  shote  and  mutton  just  from  the  pit  where 
barbecued.  These  viands  were  abundantly  supplemented 
with  fried  chicken,  salt^rising  bread,  beaten  biscuit,  "corn 
dodgers/7  and  cucumber  pickles.  To  this  add  several  repre 
sentatives  of  the  highly  respectable  pie  family,  and  possibly 
an  occasional  pound  cake,  and  the  typical  barbecue  is 
before  you. 

General  Fry,  upon  his  arrival,  was  warmly  greeted  by 
Colonel  Woolford,  whose  hearty  invitation  to  partake  was 
not  limited  to  the  viands  mentioned.  The  feast  being  at 
length  happily  concluded,  and  the  crowd  assembled  around 


HIGH  DEBATE  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS  259 

the  speaker's  stand,  Colonel  Woolford  said  to  his  old-time 
comrade:  "Now,  General  Fry,  you  just  go  ahead  and  speak 
just  as  long  as  you  want  to.  The  boys  have  all  heard  me  time 
and  again,  and  I  have  nothing  new  to  tell  them,  but  they  will 
be  glad  to  hear  you.  When  you  get  through,  of  course,  if 
there  is  a  little  time  left,  I  may  say  ' howdy'  to  the  boys, 
and  talk  a  little  while,  but  you  just  go  ahead." 

After  formal  introduction  by  the  Colonel,  General  Fry 
did  "go  ahead,"  and  discuss  the  financial  question,  the  tariff, 
reconstruction,  and  dwelt  earnestly  and  at  length  upon  the 
magnanimity  of  the  Republican  party  toward  the  men  lately 
in  rebellion  against  the  Government.  Since  the  surrender  at 
Appomattox,  no  life  had  been  taken,  no  one  punished,  no 
man  ever  put  on  his  trial.  It  was  without  a  parallel  hi  history, 
and  as  a  matter  of  simple  gratitude,  the  Republican  party 
was  entitled  to  the  support  of  the  entire  Southern  people  for 
such  magnanimity. 

The  speech  at  length  concluded,  Colonel  Woolford  arose 
and  without  even  the  formality  of  saying  "howdy,"  or  honor 
ing  finance  or  tariff  with  the  briefest  mention,  proceeded: 

"  General  Fry  has  dwelt  long  and  loud  upon  the  magnanim 
ity  of  the  Republican  party.  He  has  told  you  that  when  the 
war  was  over  and  the  last  rebel  had  laid  down  his  arms,  a  hand 
shaking  took  place  all  around,  everybody  was  forgiven,  and  the 
peace  of  heaven  came  down  like  a  dove  upon  the  whole  Southern 
people.  Yes  —  a  hell  of  a  magnanimity  it  was !  How  did  they 
show  the  magnanimity  that  General  Fry  talks  so  much  about? 
You  all  remember  Stonewall  Jackson,  one  of  the  grandest  men 
God  ever  made.  This  same  magnanimous  Republican  party 
took  him  prisoner,  tried  him  by  a  drumhead  court-martial,  and 
shot  him  down  like  a  mad  dog  after  he  had  surrendered  up  his 
sword." 

At  which  General  Fry  interposed: 

"  Why,  Colonel  Woolford,  you  ought  not  to  make  such  a 
statement  as  that.  Stonewall  Jackson  was  accidentally  shot  by 
one  of  his  own  men  in  battle,  and  his  memory  is  honored  by 
all  the  people  North  and  South." 

To  this  the  Colonel  replied: 

"  Don't  try  to  deceive  these  people.  We  don't  put  on  style 
and  wear  store  clothes  like  you  big  folks  do  down  about  Danville, 


260          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

but  we  live  in  our  plain  way,  wear  our  home-spun  and  eat  our  hog 
and  hominy;  but  if  there  is  anything  on  earth  that  these  people  do 
love,  it  is  the  truth.  What  did  this  same  magnanimous  Repub 
lican  party  that  General  Fry  had  told  you  so  much  about  do 
with  General  Robert  E.  Lee?  I  knew  General  Lee,  I  served  with 
him  in  Mexico,  and  although  we  fought  on  different  sides  in  the 
last  war,  I  always  respected  him  as  a  brave  soldier.  Well,  after 
he  had  surrendered  at  Appomattox,  and  his  men  had  all  laid 
down  their  arms,  what  did  this  same  magnanimous  party  that 
General  Fry  talked  so  much  about  do  with  General  Lee?  Why, 
they  tried  him  by  a  drumhead  court-martial  and  shot  and  quar 
tered  him  right  on  the  spot!" 

Again  interrupting,  General  Fry  indignantly  exclaimed: 

"It  is  an  outrage,  Colonel  Woolford,  to  attempt  to  deceive 
these  people  by  such  statements.  General  Lee  was  never  even 
imprisoned,  and  is  still  alive,  the  president  of  a  college  in  Vir 
ginia,  and  highly  esteemed  by  everybody." 

The  Colonel  answered: 

"Now,  General  Fry,  you  have  been  treated  like  a  gentle 
man  ever  since  you  came  to  these  mountains;  we  gave  you 
the  best  we  had  to  eat,  gave  you  the  last  drop  out  of  the 
bottle,  and  listened  quietly  to  you  just  as  long  as  you  wanted 
to  speak.  We  don't  wear  Sunday  clothes,  General  Fry,  like 
you  do  down  in  Danville,  but  just  live  in  our  plain  way  in 
our  log  cabins,  and  eat  our  hoe-cake,  and  say  our  prayers, 
but  if  there  is  anything  on  God's  earth  that  we  do  love,  it  is  the 
truth.  It  is  wrong  for  you,  General  Fry,  to  try  and  fool  these 
people.  Yes,  this  same  magnanimous  party  that  General  Fry 
has  been  telling  you  about,  what  did  they  do  with  poor  old  Jeff 
Davis  after  he  was  captured?  Now,  I  never  was  fond  of  old 
Jeff  myself,  and  I  fought  four  years  against  him  in  the  last  war. 
But  I  was  on  the  same  side  with  him  in  Mexico,  I  saw  him  head 
the  charge  of  the  Mississippi  rifles,  and  drive  back  the  Mexican 
lancers  after  McKee  and  Clay  and  Hardin  had  been  killed  at 
Buena  Vista,  and  I  know  he  was  no  coward.  Well,  after  he 
was  in  prison  and  as  helpless  as  a  child,  what  did  they  do  with 
him?  Why  they  just  took  him  out,  and  without  even  giving 
him  a  drumhead  trial,  tied  him  up  and  burned  him  to  ashes  at  a 
stake!" 

Fry  sprang  to  his  feet,  exclaiming: 

"  Great  God!  Jeff  Davis  is  still  alive,  at  his  home  in  Missis 
sippi,  and  has  never  even  been  tried;  it  is  damnable  to  make 
such  statements  to  these  people,  Colonel  Woolford!" 


HIGH  DEBATE  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS  261 

The  Colonel  thereupon,  with  a  deeply  injured  air,  said: 

"  General  Fry,  you  and  I  have  been  friends  a  life-time.  We 
hooked  watermelons,  hunted  coons,  and  attended  all  the  frolics 
together  when  we  were  boys.  We  slept  under  the  same  blanket, 
belonged  to  the  same  mess,  and  fought  side  by  side  at  Palo  Alto 
and  Cerro  Gordo;  we  shed  our  blood  on  the  same  battlefields 
when  fighting  to  save  this  glorious  Union.  I  have  loved  you, 
General  Fry,  like  a  brother,  but  this  is  too  much,  it  is  putting 
friendship  to  a  tumble  test;  it  is  a  little  more  than  flesh  and 
blood  can  stand." 

Pausing  for  a  moment,  he  apparently  recovered  himself 
from  the  deep  emotion  he  had  just  shown,  then  quietly  re 
suming,  he  said,  "What  I  have  said  about  the  way  they 
treated  old  Jeff  is  true,  and  here  is  my  witness.7 '  He  called 
out,  "Bill,  tell  the  General  what  you  saw  them  do  with  old 
Jeff." 

Bill,  a  tall,  lank,  one-gallowsed  mountaineer,  leaning 
against  a  sapling  near  by,  promptly  deposed  that  he  was 
present  at  the  time,  saw  old  Jeff  led  out,  tied  to  a  stake  and 
finally  disappear  in  a  puff  of  smoke.  At  this,  General  Fry, 
without  the  formality  of  a  farewell,  immediately  shook  the 
mountain  dust  from  his  feet,  mounted  his  horse,  and,  looking 
neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  retraced  his  steps  to  Dan 
ville,  and  without  delay  informed  the  State  Committee  that 
if  they  wanted  any  further  joint  debates  with  old  Frank  Wool- 
ford,  they  would  have  to  send  some  one  else. 

Years  after,  seated  at  my  desk  in  the  Postoffice  Depart 
ment  in  Washington,  after  I  had  appointed  a  few  cross-road 
postmasters  for  Congressman  Woolford,  I  ventured  to  in 
quire  of  him  whether  he  had  ever  had  a  joint  debate  with 
General  Fry.  With  a  suppressed  chuckle,  and  a  quaint  gleam 
of  his  remaining  eye,  he  significantly  replied,  "It  worit  do, 
Colonel,  to  believe  everything  you  hear! " 


XXII 
THE    SAGE    OF    THE   BAR 

WITTY  SAYINGS  BY  MR.  EVARTS  —  HE  DEFENDS  PRESIDENT  JOHN 
SON  BEFORE  THE  COURT  OF  IMPEACHMENT  —  DIFFERENT 
OPINIONS  AS  TO  THE  REAL  CHARACTER  OF  THAT  TRIBUNAL  — 

MR.  BOUTWELL'S  ATTEMPT  TO  INDICATE  THE  PUNISHMENT 
MERITED  BY  THE  PRESIDENT  —  MR.   EVARTS'S  REPLY  -  EX 

CHANGE  OF  COURTESIES  BY  MEMBERS  OF  THE  HOUSE. 


late  William  M.  Evarts,  at  one  time  the  head  of  the 
J^  American  bar,  said  many  things  in  his  lighter  moments 
worthy  of  remembrance. 

Upon  his  retirement  from  the  bar  to  accept  the  position 
of  Secretary  of  State,  a  farewell  dinner  was  given  him  by 
prominent  lawyers  of  New  York.  The  appointments,  viands, 
etc.,  it  is  needless  to  observe  were  all  after  the  most  approved 
style.  Somewhat  out  of  wont,  however,  a  magnificent  goose 
with  all  its  appurtenances  and  suitably  dished  was  placed 
immediately  in  front  of  the  guest  of  honor. 

The  grosser  part  of  the  feast  concluded,  the  toast  was 
proposed  :  "The  Sage  of  the  Bar."  Slowly  arising,  Mr.  Evarts 
surveyed  for  a  moment  the  dish  before  him,  and  began  :  "What 
a  wonderful  transition!  An  hour  ago  you  beheld  a  goose 
stuffed  with  sage;  you  now  behold  a  sage  stuffed  with  goose!  " 

It  is  not  entirely  forgotten  that  during  the  administration 
of  which  Mr.  Evarts  was  a  part,  total  abstinence  was  faith 
fully  enforced  in  the  great  dining-room  of  the  Executive 
Mansion  upon  all  occasions.  To  those  who  knew  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  he  had  little 
sympathy  with  this  arrangement,  that  to  him  it  was  a  custom 
"  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  the  observance/' 

Now  it  so  happened  that  at  a  state  dinner,  upon  a  time, 
a  mild  punch  in  thimbleful  instalments  was  served  to  the 
guests  in  lieu  of  more  generous  beverages.  Raising  the  tiny 
vessel  and  bowing  to  the  Austrian  Ambassador  at  his  side, 


WILLIAM   M.  EVARTS 


JOE   WHEELER 


THE  SAGE  OF  THE  BAR  368 

Mr.  Evarts  in  undertone  significantly  observed,  "  Life-saving 
station!" 

To  a  " candid  friend"  —  from  whom  God  preserve  us  — 
who  once  took  him  to  task  for  his  lengthy  and  somewhat  in 
volved  sentences,  Evarts  replied,  "Oh,  you  are  not  the  first 
man  I  ever  encountered  who  objected  to  a  long  sentence." 

During  his  official  term  above  mentioned,  Mr.  Evarts 
accompanied  a  prominent  member  of  the  British  Parliament 
to  Mount  Vernon.  Standing  in  front  of  the  old  mansion,  so 
dear  to  all  American  hearts,  the  distinguished  visitor,  looking 
across  to  the  opposite  shore,  remarked:  "I  read  in  a  history 
that  when  Washington  was  a  boy  he  threw  a  dollar  across 
the  Potomac;  remarkable  indeed  that  he  could  have  thrown 
a  dollar  so  far,  a  mile  away  across  the  Potomac;  very  remark 
able  indeed,  I  declare."  "Yes,"  replied  Evarts,  "but  you 
must  remember  that  a  dollar  would  go  a  great  deal  farther 
then  than  it  does  now." 

This  incident  being  told  to  a  member  of  Congress  of 
Hibernian  antecedents,  he  immediately  replied:  "Yes,  he 
might  have  told  the  Britisher  that  when  Washington  was  a 
boy  he  sure  enough  threw  a  dollar  across  the  Potomac, 
and  when  he  got  to  be  a  grown-up  man,  he  threw  a  sovereign 
across  the  Atlantic." 

Mr.  Evarts  was  counsel  for  President  Johnson  in  his  fam 
ous  arraignment  before  the  Senate,  sitting  as  a  High  Court  of 
Impeachment.  His  speech,  lasting  many  hours,  was  an  able 
and  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  salient  questions  involved 
in  the  trial.  The  leading  managers  upon  the  part  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  were  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  George 
S.  Boutwell,  and  John  A.  Bingham.  The  retort  courteous 
was  freely  indulged  in  many  times  by  the  managers  and  coun 
sel  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the  long-drawn-out 
prosecution. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  and  to  this  generation  renders  the 
entire  proceeding  measurably  farcical,  that  the  managers 
upon  the  part  of  the  House,  and  the  counsel  for  the  impeached 
President,  were  at  cross-purposes  from  the  beginning  as  to 
the  real  character  of  the  tribunal  before  which  they  were 


264  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

appearing.  The  latter  regarded  it  as  a  court,  and  constantly 
addressed  its  presiding  officer,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States,  as  "Your  Honor";  while  the  former  insisted  that  it 
was  only  the  Senate,  and  continually  addressed  the  Chief 
Justice  as  "Mr.  President." 

The  issues  involved  were  likewise  argued  by  the  opposing 
counsel  from  wholly  different  standpoints.  The  contention 
of  the  defence  as  stated  by  counsel  was : 

"We  are  then  in  a  court.  What  are  you  to  try?  You  are 
to  try  the  charges  contained  in  these  articles  of  impeachment,  and 
nothing  else.  Upon  what  are  you  to  try  them?  Not  upon  com 
mon  fame;  not  upon  the  price  of  gold  in  New  York,  or  upon  any 
question  of  finance;  not  upon  newspaper  rumor;  not  upon  any 
views  of  party  policy;  you  are  to  try  them  upon  the  evidence 
offered  here  and  nothing  else,  by  the  obligation  of  your  oaths." 

The  contrary  contention  as  stated  by  one  of  the  managers 
was  as  follows: 

"We  define,  therefore,  an  impeachable  high  crime  or  mis 
demeanor,  to  be  one  in  its  nature  or  consequences  subversive 
of  some  fundamental  or  essential  principle  of  government,  or 
highly  prejudicial  to  the  public  interest;  and  this  may  consist  of 
a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  of  law,  or  of  duty  by  an  act  com 
mitted  or  omitted,  or  without  violating  positive  law,  by  the  abuse 
of  discretionary  powers  from  improper  motives,  or  for  any  im 
proper  purpose." 

With  gulf  as  broad  between  managers  and  counsel  as  that 
separating  Dives  and  Lazarus,  not  only  as  to  the  issues  to  be 
tried,  but  as  to  the  nature  of  the  functions  and  designation 
of  the  tribunal  before  which  they  were  appearing,  and  with 
the  decision  of  the  Chief  Justice  upon  questions  of  law  arising 
continually  over-ruled  by  the  majority  of  the  Senators, 
it  may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  there  was  much  in 
the  way  of  "travelling  out  of  the  record "  in  the  heated 
discussion  which  followed. 

The  associates  of  Mr.  Evarts  —  Stanberry,  Curtis,  Groes- 
beck,  and  Nelson  —  were  the  most  solemn  of  men,  and  what 
ever  there  was  " bright  with  the  radiance  of  utterance"  to 
lessen  the  tension  of  the  protracted  struggle,  came  from 
his  own  lips. 


THE  SAGE  OF  THE  BAR  265 

Near  the  close  of  his  speech,  Manager  Boutwell,  in  attempt 
ing  to  indicate  the  punishment  merited  by  the  accused,  said : 

"Travellers  and  astronomers  inform  us  that  in  the  southern 
heavens  near  the  Southern  Cross  there  is  a  vast  space  which 
the  uneducated  call  a  hole  in  the  sky,  where  the  eye  of  man, 
with  the  aid  of  the  telescope,  has  been  unable  to  discover  nebula, 
or  asteroid,  planet,  comet,  star  or  sun.  In  that  dreary,  cold, 
dark  region  of  space,  which  is  only  known  to  be  less  than  infinite 
by  the  evidences  of  creations  elsewhere,  the  Great  Author  of 
celestial  mechanism  has  left  the  chaos  which  was  in  the  begin 
ning.  If  this  earth  were  capable  of  the  sentiments  and  emotions 
of  justice  and  virtue  which  in  human  mortal  beings  are  the  evi 
dences  and  the  pledge  of  our  divine  origin  and  immortal  destiny, 
it  would  heave  and  throw  with  the  energy  of  the  elemental  forces 
of  nature,  and  project  this  enemy  of  two  races  of  men  into  that 
vast  region,  there  forever  to  exist  in  a  solitude  eternal  as 
life,  or  as  the  absence  of  life,  emblematical  of,  if  not  really, 
that  outer  darkness  of  which  the  Saviour  of  Man  spoke  in  warn 
ing  to  those  who  are  the  enemies  of  themselves,  of  their  race, 
and  of  their  God." 

To  the  above  Mr.  Evarts  replied : 

"I  may  as  conveniently  at  this  point  of  the  argument  as 
at  any  other  pay  some  attention  to  the  astronomical  punishment 
which  the  learned  and  honorable  manager,  Mr.  Boutwell,  thinks 
should  be  applied  to  this  novel  case  of  impeachment  of  the  Presi 
dent.  Cicero,  I  think  it  is,  who  says  that  a  lawyer  should  know 
everything,  for  sooner  or  later  there  is  no  fact  in  history,  in 
science,  or  of  human  knowledge,  that  will  not  come  into  play  in 
his  argument.  Painfully  sensible  of  my  ignorance,  being  devoted 
to  a  profession  which  sharpens  and  does  not  enlarge  the  mind, 
I  yet  can  admit  without  envy  the  superior  knowledge  evinced  by 
the  honorable  manager.  Indeed,  upon  my  soul,  I  believe  he  is 
aware  of  an  astronomical  fact  of  which  many  professors  of  that 
science  are  wholly  ignorant.  Nevertheless,  while  some  of  his 
honorable  colleagues  were  paying  attention  to  an  unoccupied 
and  unappropriated  island  on  the  surface  of  the  seas,  Mr.  Mana 
ger  Boutwell,  more  ambitious,  had  discovered  an  untenanted 
and  unappropriated  region  in  the  skies  reserved,  he  would  have 
us  think,  in  the  final  counsels  of  the  Almighty  as  the  place  of 
punishment  for  convicted  and  deposed  American  Presidents. 
At  first  I  thought  that  his  mind  had  become  so  enlarged  that  it 
was  not  sharp  enough  to  discover  that  the  Constitution  had 
limited  the  punishment,  but  on  reflection  I  saw  that  he  was  as 
legal  and  logical  as  he  was  ambitious  and  astronomical,  for  the 


266          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Constitution  has  said  'removal  from  office/  and  has  put  no 
distance  to  the  limit  of  removal,  so  that  it  may  be,  without  shed 
ding  a  drop  of  his  blood,  or  taking  a  penny  of  his  property,  or  con 
fining  his  limbs,  instant  removal  from  office,  and  transportation 
to  the  skies.  Truly  this  is  a  great  undertaking  and  if  the  learned 
manager  can  only  get  over  the  obstacles  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
the  Constitution  will  not  stand  in  his  way.  He  can  contrive 
no  method  but  that  of  a  convulsion  of  the  earth,  that  shall  pro 
ject  the  deposed  President  to  this  infinitely  distant  space;  but 
a  shock  of  nature  of  so  vast  energy  and  for  so  great  a  result  on 
him,  might  unsettle  even  the  footing  of  the  firm  members  of 
Congress.  We  certainly  need  not  resort  to  so  perilous  a  method 
as  that.  How  shall  we  accomplish  it?  Why,  in  the  first  place,  no 
body  knows  where  that  space  is  but  the  learned  manager  himself, 
and  he  is  the  necessary  deputy  to  execute  the  judgment  of  the  court." 

Two  of  the  managers,  Butler  and  Bingham,  were  at  sword's 
points,  and  had  but  recently  assailed  each  other  with  great 
bitterness  in  the  House.  How  all  this  was  turned  to  account 
by  the  counsel  will  now  appear.  In  vindicating  the  President 
against  the  charge  of  undignified  utterances  and  impropriety 
of  speech  in  recent  public  addresses,  Mr.  Evarts  candidly 
admits  that  the  Executive,  whose  early  educational  advantages 
had  been  meagre  indeed,  and  who  was  confessedly  untaught 
of  the  schools,  "had  gotten  into  trouble  by  undertaking  to 
be  logical  with  a  metaphor." 

He  insisted,  however,  that  the  President  should  be  bound 
by  no  higher  standard  of  propriety  of  speech  than  that  set  by 
the  House  of  which  the  Honorable  Managers  were  members. 
The  rule  governing  the  House  in  such  matters  will  readily 
appear  from  a  recent  exchange  of  courtesies  between  the  two 
distinguished  members  referred  to  above,  Mr.  Bingham  and 
Mr.  Butler.  The  former  said: 

"I  desire  to  say,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  it  does  not  become  a 
gentleman  who  recorded  his  vote  fifty  times  for  Jefferson  Davis 
as  his  candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States,  to  under 
take  to  damage  this  cause  by  attempting  to  cast  an  imputa 
tion  either  upon  my  integrity  or  my  honor.  I  repel  with 
scorn  and  contempt  any  utterance  of  that  sort  from  any 
man,  whether  he  be  the  hero  of  Fort  Fisher,  not  taken,  or  of  Fort 
Fisher,  taken!'' 


THE  SAGE  OF  THE  BAR  267 

To  which  Mr.  Butler  replied: 

"But  if  during  the  war,  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  did  as 
much  as  I  did  in  that  direction,  I  shall  be  glad  to  recognize 
that  much  done.  But  the  only  victim  of  the  gentleman's 
prowess  that  I  know  of  was  an  innocent  woman  on  the  scaf 
fold,  one  Mrs.  Surratt.  I  can  sustain  the  memory  of  Fort 
Fisher  if  he  and  his  present  associates  can  sustain  him  in 
shedding  the  blood  of  a  woman  tried  by  a  military  commission 
and  convicted,  in  my  judgment,  without  sufficient  evidence!" 

To  which  Mr.  Bingham  replied:  "I  challenge  the  gentle 
man,  I  dare  him  anywhere,  in  this  tribunal  or  in  any  tribunal, 
to  assert  that  I  spoliated  or  mutilated  any  book.  Why,  sir, 
such  a  charge  without  one  tittle  of  evidence  is  only  fit  to  come 
from  a  man  who  lives  in  a  bottle,  and  is  fed  with  a  spoon! " 

"Now,  what  under  heavens  that  means,"  protested  Evarts, 
"I  do  not  know,  but  it  is  within  the  common  law  of  courtesy 
in  the  judgment  of  the  House  of  Representatives," 


XXIII 
"THE   GENTLEMAN  FROM  MISSISSIPPI" 

JOHN   ALLEN,   MEMBER  OP  CONGRESS  —  HE   PAYS   A  COMPLIMENT 
TO  GENERAL  WHEELER  —  HIS  MODEST  LUNCH  —  A  SOUTHERN- 
SKULKER'S    OBJECTION 
ff    YAN] 
TILT  WITH  COLONEL  FELLOWS. 

IHE  subject  of  this  brief  sketch  is  still  in  life,  very  much 
so;  and  that  he 

"  Shall  live  the  lease  of  nature,  pay  his  breath 
To  time  and  mortal  custom  " 

is  the  prayer  of  friends  and  political  foes  alike.  Who  does  not 
know  or  has  not  heard  of  " Private  John  Allen,"  the  some 
time  member  of  Congress  from  Mississippi?  A  more  charm 
ing  gentleman  or  delightful  companion  for  the  hours  of  rec 
reation  and  gladness  has  rarely  appeared  in  this  old  world. 
He  was,  while  in  his  teens,  a  private  soldier  in  the  Confederate 
army,  later  was  a  practising  lawyer,  and  in  time  "  reluctantly 
yielding  to  the  earnest  solicitations  of  his  friends/'  gener 
ously  consented  to  serve  a  few  terms  in  Congress.  From  his 
first  entrance  into  the  House,  he  was  well  known  to  all  its 
members.  No  one  needed  an  introduction  —  they  all  knew 
John  Allen. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  his  first  speech,  which  possibly 
referred  to  the  improvement  of  the  Tombigbee  River,  he 
modestly  remarked:  "Now  I  am  through  my  speech  for  this 
time,  Mr.  Speaker,  and  will  immediately  retire  to  the  cloak 
room  to  receive  the  congratulations  of  my  friends." 

Speaker  Reed,  with  whom  he  was  a  great  favorite,  never 
failed  to  "recognize"  John,  and  in  fact  by  common  consent 
he  was  always  entitled  to  the  floor.  This  fact  will  shed  some 
light  upon  the  following  incident.  During  the  roll-call  of  the 
House  upon  a  motion  to  adjourn  at  a  late  hour  of  a  night 

268 


"THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  MISSISSIPPI"  269 

session,  Mr.  Allen  passed  down  the  aisle,  with  hat  and  overcoat 
upon  his  arm,  and,  stopping  immediately  in  front  of  the 
Clerk's  desk,  said,  "Mr.  Speaker,  —  " 

"For  what  purpose,"  said  Reed,  "does  the  gentleman 
from  Mississippi  interrupt  the  roll-call  ?" 

"Mr.  Speaker,"  continued  Allen,  "I  rise  to  a  parliamen 
tary  inquiry.  I  want  to  know  how  General  Wheeler  voted  on 
this  motion."  To  this  "parliamentary  inquiry"  the  Speaker 
after  ascertaining  the  fact  replied  that  the  gentleman  from 
Alabama  had  voted  "aye." 

"Well,  then,  Mr.  Speaker,"  said  John,  "just  put  me  down 
the  same  way  with  General  Wheeler;  I  followed  him  four 
years,  and  he  never  led  me  into  danger  yet." 

Seated  one  day  in  the  Senate  restaurant,  I  observed  Mr. 
Allen  standing  at  the  entrance.  Upon  my  invitation,  he 
took  a  seat  at  my  table.  "What  will  you  have,  John?"  said 
I.  With  an  abstracted  air,  and  the  appearance  of  being 
extremely  embarrassed  by  his  surroundings,  he  replied,  "It 
makes  mighty  little  difference  about  me  anyway,"  and 
turning  to  a  waiter  he  slowly  drawled  out,  "Bring  me  some 
terrapin  and  champagne."  Then,  in  an  apologetic  tone  he 
quietly  observed,  "I  got  used  to  that  durin'  the  Wah." 

After  a  moment's  pause,  he  continued,  "By  the  way,  did 
you  ever  hear  the  expression  'before  the  Wah'?  "  I  inti 
mated  that  the  expression  had  not  wholly  escaped  me. 

"I  heard  it  once  under  rather  peculiar  circumstances,"  said 
John.  "Down  in  the  outskirts  of  my  deestrict,  there  is  an 
old-time  religious  sect  known  as  the  'hard-shell'  or  'iron- 
jacket'  Baptists;  mighty  good,  honest  people,  of  course,  but 
old-fashioned  in  their  ways  and  everlastingly  opposed  to  all 
new-fangled  notions,  such  as  having  Temperance  societies, 
Missionary  societies,  and  Sunday  schools.  They  would,  how 
ever,  die  in  their  tracks  before  they  would  ever  let  up  on  the 
good  old  church  doctrines,  especially  predestination.  Oh,  I 
tell  you  they  were  predestinarians  from  away  back.  John 
Calvin  with  his  vapory  views  upon  that  question  would  not 
have  been  admitted  even  on  probation.  Sometimes  the 
preacher  during  his  sermon,  turning  to  the  Amen  corner 


270  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

would  inquire:  'When  were  you,  my  brother,  predestinated 
to  eternal  salvation,  or  eternal  damnation?' 

"Well,  the  answer  that  had  come  down  from  the  ages 
always  was,  '  From  the  foundation  of  the  world.' 

"When  I  was  making  my  first  race  for  Congress,  I  spoke 
in  that  neighborhood  one  Saturday,  and  stayed  all  night  with 
one  of  the  elders,  and  on  Sunday  of  course  I  went  to  church. 
During  the  sermon,  the  preacher  while  holding  forth  as  usual 
on  his  favorite  doctrine,  suddenly  turning  to  a  stranger  who 
had  somehow  got  crowded  into  the  Amen  corner,  said:  'My 
brother,  when  were  you  predestinated  to  eternal  salvation  or 
eternal  damnation?'  To  which  startling  inquiry  the  stranger, 
terribly  embarrassed,  hesitatingly  answered:  'I  don't  adzactly 
remember,  Parson,  but  /  think  it  was  befo'  the  Wah.'  " 

A  comrade  of  John  in  Company  G  was  a  tow-headed, 
lantern-jawed  fellow  who  never  failed  somehow  to  get  to  the 
rear  and  to  a  place  of  comparative  safety  at  the  first  intima 
tion  of  approaching  battle.  He  was  proof  alike  against  the 
gibes  of  his  comrades  and  the  threats  of  his  officers.  Upon 
one  occasion  the  approach  of  the  enemy  was  heralded  by  a 
few  shells  bursting  suggestively  near  the  spot  where  Company 
G  was  stationed.  The  tow-headed  veteran  immediately  be 
gan  preparations  to  retire.  With  threatening  mien,  levelled 
revolver,  and  oaths  that  would  have  done  no  discredit  to  "our 
army  hi  Flanders,"  the  Captain  ordered  the  skulker  back  into 
line,  upon  pain  of  instant  death.  Leaning  upon  his  musket, 
and  with  familiar  gaze  upon  his  irate  superior,  the  culprit 
slowly  drawled:  "I  don't  mine  bein'  muddered  by  a  high-tone 
Southern  gentleman  like  you,  Cappen,  but  dam  if  I'm  gwyen 
to  eternally  disgrace  my  family  by  lettin'  one  of  them  low- 
down  Yankees  shoot  me!" 

Allen  was  no  exception  to  the  rule  that  men  gifted  like 
himself  are  subject  to  occasional  seasons  of  gloom,  but  his 
greeting  usually  came  as  a  benediction.  At  the  banquet  table, 
when  dull  care  was  laid  aside  and  he  was  surrounded  by  genial 
companions,  —  "for  'tis  meet  that  noble  minds  keep  ever 
with  their  likes"  —  his  star  was  at  its  zenith.  Then  indeed, 
all  rules  were  suspended;  no  point  of  order  suggested  —  "the 


"THE  GENTLEMAN  FROM  MISSISSIPPI"          971 

man  and  the  hour  had  met."  His  marvellous  narratives  of 
quaint  incidents  and  startling  experiences,  his  brilliant  re 
partee,  sallies  of  wit,  banter,  and  badinage  have  rarely  been 
heard  since  the  days  of  the  Round  Table  or  the  passing  of 
"  the  Star  and  Garter." 

Once,  however,  John  Allen  confessedly  met  his  match  in 
the  person  of  the  Hon.  John  R.  Fellows,  who  had  been  Colonel 
of  an  Arkansas  regiment  in  the  Confederate  service;  later 
a  prominent  leader  of  Tammany  Hall,  and  was  at  the  time 
mentioned,  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  New  York. 
He  was  the  "Prince  Rupert  of  Debate,"  and  was  gifted  with 
eloquence  rarely  equalled.  At  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor 
upon  his  retirement  from  Congress,  a  hundred  or  more  of  his 
associates  were  guests,  including,  of  course,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  Men  high  in  councils  of  State,  leaders  of  both 
parties,  and  of  both  Houses,  had  gathered  around  the  board, 
and  good-fellowship  and  mirth  reached  the  high-water  mark. 
By  common  consent  Fellows  and  Allen  were  in  undisputed 
possession  of  the  floor.  Such  passages-at-arms  no  pen  can 
describe.  Even  "John  Chamberlain's"  in  its  palmiest  days 
has  never  known  the  like. 

Near  the  close  Allen  said : 

"There  is  one  thing  I  would  like  to  have  Colonel  Fellows 
explain.  He  was  captured  the  first  year  of  the  war,  and 
never  exchanged,  but  held  as  a  prisoner  by  the  Federals  until 
the  war  was  over.  I  was  taken  prisoner  five  times,  and 
always  promptly  exchanged.  I  would  like  Colonel  Fellows 
to  explain  how  it  was  that  he  was  kept  in  a  place  of  safety, 
while  I  was  always  at  the  front?" 

When  the  applause  which  followed  had  subsided,  Colonel 
Fellows  arose  and  said: 

"I  am  grateful  to  my  friend  from  Mississippi  for  giving 
me  an  opportunity  to  explain  that  part  of  my  military  record 
which  I  apprehend  has  never  been  sufficiently  clear.  It  is 
true.  I  was  taken  prisoner  the  first  year  of  the  war,  and  the 
enemy,  well  knowing  the  danger  of  my  being  at  large,  per 
sistently  refused  to  release  me  until  peace  was  restored.  Had 
I  been  promptly  exchanged,  the  result  of  that  war  might  have 


272  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

been  different!  But  why  it  was,  that  my  friend  from  Missis 
sippi  was  so  repeatedly  and  promptly  exchanged  is  a  question 
that  until  yesterday  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand. 
It  has  given  me  deep  concern.  I  have  pondered  over  it 
during  the  silent  watches  of  the  night.  Yesterday,  however, 
my  mind  was  completely  set  at  rest  upon  that  question  by 
reading  the  correspondence  —  to  be  found  in  Volume  748, 
page  421  of  the  '  Record  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion'  —  be 
tween  President  Lincoln  and  President  Davis  relating  to  the 
exchange  of  Private  John  Allen  of  Company  G,  Fourteenth 
Mississippi  Volunteers.  The  correspondence  covers  many 
pages  of  this  valuable  publication,  but  I  will  read  only  the 
closing  communication." 

And  while  John  with  a  new  supply  of  terrapin  before  him 
was  listening  intently,  Fellows  carefully  adjusting  his  eye 
glasses  and  taking  a  letter  from  his  pocket,  continued : 

"The  letter  I  will  read  from  President  Lincoln  concluded 
the  correspondence,  and  is  as  follows :  '  Dear  Jeff:  With  this 
I  return  you  Private  John  Allen  of  Company  G,  Fourteenth 
Mississippi.  I  require  no  prisoner  in  exchange.  The  Lord's 
truth  is,  Jeff,  /  had  rather  fight  John  than  feed  him!' " 


XXIV 
AN   OLD-TIME   COUNTRY   DOCTOR 

THE  WRITER  AT  HIS  INN,  THE  TRAVELLER'S  HOME  —  DOCTOR 
JOHN,  ONE  OP  HIS  EARLIEST  ACQUAINTANCES  —  THE  DOC 
TOR'S  LIBERALITY  IN  ADMINISTERING  MEDICINE  —  A  DISAP 
POINTMENT  IN  EARLY  LIFE  —  THE  DOCTOR'S  IGNORANCE  OP 
THE  "  SOLAR  SYSTEM"  —  A  DIFFICULTY  WITH  THE  LAND 
LADY  —  A  QUESTION  OP  ORTHOGRAPHY  —  THE  DOCTOR  AS  A 
MEMBER  OF  A  TOTAL-ABSTINENCE  SOCIETY. 

UPON  my  admission  to  the  bar  in  1858, 1  located  at  Meta- 
mora,  a  village  of  five  hundred  inhabitants,  about  forty 
miles  northwest  of  Bloomington.  It  was  beautifully 
and  quietly  situated,  eight  miles  from  the  railroad,  and  was  at 
the  time  the  county-seat  of  Woodford  County,  one  of  the  finest 
agricultural  portions  of  Illinois. 

Metamora  contained  many  delightful  families,  and  a  cor 
dial  welcome  was  accorded  me.  The  old  tavern,  "  Traveller's 
Home,"  was  mine  inn,  and  as  a  hostelry  it  possessed  rare 
advantages.  The  one  that  chiefly  recommended  it  to  me  was 
its  extremely  moderate  charges.  Two  dollars  and  a  half  per 
week  for  board  and  lodging, "  washing  and  mending  "  included, 
were  the  inviting  terms  held  out  to  all  comers  and  goers. 
There  was  much,  however,  in  the  surroundings,  appointments, 
etc.,  of  this  ancient  inn,  little  calculated  to  reconcile  delicately 
toned  mortals  to  things  of  sense.  It  was  of  this  place  of 
entertainment  that  Colonel  Ingersoll  spoke  when,  in  his 
description  of  the  tapestry  of  Windsor  Castle,  he  said  that  it 
reminded  him  of  a  Metamora  table-cloth  the  second  week  of 
court. 

The  dear  old  tavern  has  fallen  a  victim  to  the  remorseless 
tooth  of  time,  but,  in  the  palmy  days  of  Metamora,  when  it 
was  the  county-seat,  and  the  Spring  and  Fall  terms  of  court 
were  as  regular  in  their  coming  as  the  seasons  themselves, 
the  old  tavern  was  in  its  glory,  and  for  all  " transients"  and 

273 


374  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"regulars"  it  was  the  chief  objective  point.  For  a  decade  or 
more  its  walls  gave  shelter  to  Judge  Treat,  Judge  Davis,  Mr. 
Lincoln,  General  Gridley,  Judge  Purple,  and  more  than  once 
to  General  Shields  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  At  a  later  date 
it  was  upon  like  occasion  the  stopping  place  of  Colonel  Inger- 
soll,  John  Burns,  Judge  Shaw,  James  S.  Ewing,  Robert  E. 
Williams,  Judge  Richmond,  and  other  well-known  members 
of  the  bar. 

One  of  my  earliest  acquaintances  in  Metamora,  and  one 
not  soon  to  be  forgotten,  was  Doctor  John  —  familiarly  called 
"  Doc,"  except  upon  state  occasions.  As  I  write,  the  vision  of 
the  Doctor  arises  before  me  out  of  the  mists  of  the  shadowy 
past.  His  personal  appearance  was  indeed  remarkable.  Stand 
ing  six  feet  six  in  his  number  elevens,  without  an  ounce  of 
superfluous  flesh,  a  neck  somewhat  elongated  and  set  off  to 
great  advantage  by  an  immense  "Adam's  apple,"  which  ap 
peared  to  be  constantly  on  duty,  head  large  and  features  a 
trifle  exaggerated,  and  with  iron  gray  locks  hanging  gracefully 
over  his  slightly  stooped  shoulders,  the  Doctor  would  have 
given  pause  to  the  McGregor,  even  with  foot  upon  his  native 
heather.  He  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  the  "Panhandle"  of 
the  Old  Dominion;  the  part  thereof  afterwards  detached  for 
the  formation  of  the  new  State.  How  this  all  came  about 
was  to  the  Doctor  as  inexplicable  as  the  riddle  of  the  Sphinx; 
but  he  scouted  the  thought  that  he  had  ever  ceased  to  be  a  son 
of  "the  real  old  Virginny."  He  claimed  to  be  a  descendant 
of  one  of  "  the  first  families,"  and  there  lingered  about  him 
in  very  truth  much  of  the  chivalric  bearing  of  the  old  cavalier 
stock.  No  man  living  could  possibly  have  invited  a  gentle 
man  "to  partake  of  some  spirits"  or  "to  participate  in  a 
glass  of  beer,"  in  a  loftier  manner  than  did  the  Doctor.  Not 
himself  a  member  of  the  visible  church,  nor  even  an  occasional 
attendant  upon  its  service,  the  heart  of  the  Doctor  neverthe 
less,  like  that  of  the  renowned  Cave  Burton,  responded  feel 
ingly  to  every  earnest  supplication  "for  the  preservation  of 
the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth  to  be  enjoyed  in  due  season/ 
And  with  the  Doctor,  as  with  Cave,  the  question  of  the  quan 
tity  of  the  kindly  fruits  thus  preserved  was  of  far  greater 


AN   OLD-TIME  COUNTRY   DOCTOR  275 

moment  than  any  mere  matter  of  sentiment  as  to  their 
quality. 

The  intellectual  attainments  of  the  Doctor,  it  must  be 
admitted,  were  not  of  the  highest  order.  He  was  a  student  of 
men  rather  than  of  books.  He  had  journeyed  but  little  along 
the  flowery  paths  of  literature.  He  never  gave  "local  habi 
tation  or  name"  to  the  particular  Medical  College  which  had 
honored  him  with  its  degree.  He  was,  as  he  often  asserted, 
of  the  "epleptic"  school  of  medicine.  In  reply  to  my  inquiry 
as  to  what  that  really  was,  he  solemnly  asseverated  that  it 
was  the  only  school  which  permitted  its  practitioners  to 
accept  all  that  was  good,  and  reject  all  that  was  bad,  of  all 
the  other  schools.  In  his  practice  he  had  a  supreme  contempt 
for  what  he  called  "written  proscriptions,"  and  often  boasted 
that  he  never  allowed  one  of  them  to  go  out  of  his  office. 
He  infinitely  preferred  to  compound  his  own  medicines, 
which,  with  the  aid  of  mortar  and  pestle,  he  did  in  unstinted 
measure  in  his  office.  On  rainy  days  and  during  extremely 
healthy  seasons,  his  stock  was  thereby  largely  augmented. 
In  administering  his  "doses"  his  generous  spirit  manifested 
itself  as  clearly  as  along  other  lines.  No  "pent-up  Utica" 
contracted  his  powers.  It  has  been  many  times  asserted, 
and  with  apparent  confidence,  that  no  patient  of  his  ever 
complained  of  not  having  received  full  measure.  There  were 
no  Oliver  Twists  among  his  patrons.  It  was  a  singular  fact 
in  the  professional  experience  of  this  eminent  practitioner, 
that  his  patients,  regardless  of  age  or  sex,  were  all  afflicted 
with  a  like  malady.  Many  a  time  as  he  returned  from  a 
professional  visit,  mounted  on  his  old  roan,  with  his  bushel 
measure  medicine  bag  thrown  across  his  saddle,  in  answer  to 
my  casual  inquiry  as  to  the  ailment  of  his  patient,  he  gave 
in  oracular  tones,  the  one  all-sufficient  reply,  "only  a  slight 
derangement  of  the  nervous  system" 

He  never  quite  forgave  Mr.  Lincoln  the  reply  he  once 
made  to  an  ill-advised  interruption  of  the  Doctor  during  a 
political  speech.  "Well,  well,  Doctor,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln, 
good-humoredly,  "I  will  take  anything  from  you  except  your 
medicines." 


276  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

The  Doctor  was  a  bachelor,  and  his  "May  of  life"  had  fallen 
into  the  sear  and  yellow  leaf  at  the  time  of  which  we  write. 
He  was  still,  however,  as  he  more  than  once  assured  me,  an 
ardent  admirer  of  "the  opposing  sect." 

In  one  of  his  most  confidential  moods,  he  disclosed  to  me 
the  startling  fact  that  he  had  in  early  life  been  the  victim  of 
misplaced  confidence.  In  an  unguarded  moment  he  entrusted 
the  idol  of  his  heart  to  the  safe  keeping  of  a  friend,  in  the 
whiteness  of  whose  soul  he  trusted  as  in  a  mother's  love, 
while  he,  the  confiding  Doctor,  journeyed  westward  to  seek 
a  home. 

"  He  knew  not  the  doctrine  of  ill-doing, 
Nor  dreamed  that  any  did." 

Alas  for  human  frailty,  "the  badge  of  all  our  race."  Upon 
his  return  after  an  absence  of  several  moons,  he  found  to  his 
unspeakable  dismay  that  that  same  " friend"  had  taken  to 
wife  the  idol  whose  image  had  so  long  found  lodgment  in  the 
Doctor's  own  sad  heart.  Too  late  he  realized,  as  wiser  men 
have  done  before  and  since,  that 

"  Friendship  is  constant  in  all  other  things 
Save  in  the  office  and  affairs  of  love." 

The  Doctor  was  much  given  at  times  to  what  he  denomi 
nated  "low  down  talks"  such  as  are  wont  when  kindred  souls 
hold  close  converse.  Seated  in  my  office  on  one  occasion,  at 
the  hour  when  churchyards  yawn,  and  being  as  he  candidly 
admitted  in  a  somewhat  "remiscent"  mood,  he  unwittingly 
gave  expression  to  thoughts  beyond  the  reaches  of  our  souls, 
when  I  made  earnest  inquiry,  "Doctor,  what  in  your  judg 
ment  as  a  medical  man  is  to  be  the  final  destination  of  the 
human  soul?"  The  solemn  hour  of  midnight,  together  with 
the  no  less  solemn  inquiry,  at  once  plunged  the  Doctor  into 
deep  thought.  First  carefully  changing  his  quid  from  the 
right  to  the  left  jaw,  he  slowly  and  as  if  thoughtfully  measuring 
his  words,  replied :  "  Brother  Stevenson,  the  solar  system  are  one 
of  which  I  have  given  very  little  reflection.7' 

It  is  a  sad  fact  that  in  this  world  the  best  of  men 
are  not  wholly  exempt  from  human  frailties.  Even  in  the 


AN  OLD-TIME  COUNTRY  DOCTOR  277 

noble  calling  of  medicine  there  have  been  at  times  slight 
outcroppings  of  a  spirit  of  professional  jealousy.  That  the 
subject  of  these  brief  chronicles  was  no  exception  to  this 
infirmity  will  appear  from  a  remark  he  once  made  in  regard  to 
a  professional  contemporary  whose  practice  had  gradually  en 
croached  upon  the  Doctor's  beat.  Said  he:  "They  talk  a 
good  deal  about  this  Doc  Wilson's  practice;  but  I'll  'low  that 
my  books  will  show  a  greater  degree  of  mortality  than  what 
hisn  will." 

The  Doctor  was  one  of  the  regular  boarders  at  the  historic 
inn  already  mentioned.  By  long  and  faithful  service  he 
had  won  the  honored  position  of  chief  boarder,  and  his  place 
by  common  consent  was  at  the  head  of  the  table.  No  one 
who  ever  sat  at  that  delightful  board  could  forget  the  dignified 
manner  in  which  the  Doctor  would  take  his  accustomed  seat, 
and  without  unnecessary  delay  proceed  to  appropriate  what 
ever  viands  might  be  within  his  reach.  As  a  matter  of  especial 
grace  upon  the  part  of  the  good  landlady,  an  old-fashioned 
corn  pone  and  a  pitcher  of  sweet  milk  appeared  occasionally 
upon  the  supper  table  of  this  most  excellent  inn.  Such  visita 
tions  were  truly  regarded,  even  by  the  veterans,  as  very 
oases  in  the  desert  of  life.  Now,  it  so  happened,  that  upon 
a  cold  December  evening,  between  the  first  and  second 
tolling  of  the  supper  bell,  the  boarders  in  anxious  ex 
pectancy  were  awaiting  the  final  summons,  in  a  small 
chamber  hard  by  the  dining-room.  To  this  assembly  the 
writer  hereof  remarked:  "It  seems  to  me,  gentlemen,  that 
it  has  been  a  long  time  since  we  have  been  favored 
with  pone  bread  and  sweet  milk.  I  therefore  move  that 
Doctor  John  be  appointed  a  committee  of  one  to  request 
Mrs.  Sparks  to  have  these  delicacies  for  supper  to-morrow 
night." 

A  hearty  second  was  immediately  given  by  Whig  Ewing, 
Esq.,  at  a  later  day  distinguished  both  as  an  orator  and  a 
Judge.  Without  shadow  of  opposition  the  resolution  was 
adopted,  and  upon  summons  the  boarders  were  almost  im 
mediately  thereafter  in  their  accustomed  places  at  the  table. 
Turning  to  the  landlady  as  she  slowly  approached  with  a 


278  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

platter  of  cold  biscuits,  the  Doctor  in  most  conciliatory  tone, 
said:  "Mrs.  Sparks,  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  boarders  held 
this  evening  I  was  appointed  a  committee  of  one  to  invite 
you  to  have  corn  pone  and  sweet  milk  to-morrow  evening." 
A  deep  frown  at  once  encircled  the  fair  brow  of  our  hostess. 
Unlike  that  of  the  late  Mrs.  Tarn  O'Shanter,  her  wrath  needed 
no  nursing  to  keep  it  warm.  Advancing  a  step,  and  with  ap 
parent  effort  suppressing  her  emotion,  she  slowly  articulated, 
"  What  did  you  say,  Doctor?"  Presaging  danger  in  the  very 
air,  the  Doctor  repeated  in  husky  tones,  "At  a  regular  meeting 
of  the  boarders  held  this  evening,  I  was  appointed  a  committee 
of  one  to  invite  you  to  have  corn  bread  for  supper  to-morrow 
evening."  At  the  repetition  the  frown  upon  the  brow  of  the 
fair  one  darkened  and  deepened.  Advancing  a  step  nearer 
the  object  of  her  wrath,  she  said,  "If  you  or  any  of  the  other 
boarders  are  dissatisfied  with  my  house,  you  can  leave,  and 
leave  now!" 

With  the  thermometer  at  zero  and  Peoria  seventeen  miles 
away,  and  the  Illinois  out  of  its  banks,  there  was  little  that 
was  comforting  in  her  words.  The  stillness  of  the  grave  was 
upon  that  little  assembly.  At  length,  to  relieve  the  strain 
of  the  situation,  if  possible,  the  writer  inquired,  "What  was 
your  remark,  Doctor  John?"  to  which  the  Doctor,  in  a  tone 
somewhat  hopeful  but  by  no  means  confident,  replied,  "I  was 
just  remarking  to  our  beloved  landlady,  brother  Stevenson, 
that  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  boarders  held  this  evening  I 
was  appointed  a  committee  to  invite  her  to  have  corn  bread 
for  supper  to-morrow  night."  To  which  I  modestly  replied, 
"Well,  if  any  such  meeting  as  that  was  ever  held,  it  is  very 
strange  that  I  heard  nothing  about  it"  This  kindly  observa 
tion  only  deepened  the  gloom,  and  perceptibly  lessened  the 
distance  between  the  irate  hostess  and  the  chief  boarder. 
The  latter  in  sheer  desperation  at  length  appealed  for  succor 
to  Ewing,  who  until  this  moment,  strangely  enough,  had  been 
an  attentive  listener.  Thus  appealed  to,  the  latter,  with 
Prince  Albert  buttoned  to  the  very  top,  and  with  the  states 
man's  true  pose,  said: 

"I  beg  to  assure  you,  Mrs.  Sparks,  that  I  am  profoundly 


AN  OLD-TIME  COUNTRY  DOCTOR  S79 

ignorant  of  any  such  meeting  of  the  boarders  as  has  been 
indicated.  Had  I  been  apprised  that  such  meeting  was 
contemplated  I  would  have  attended  and  used  my  utmost 
endeavor \o  secure  the  defeat  of  its  ill-timed  resolution.  Let 
me  say  further,  madam,  that  I  am  not  fond  of  corn  bread. 
The  biscuits  with  which  we  are  nourished  from  day  to  day 
are  exactly  to  my  taste,  and  even  if  they  were  a  few  degrees 
colder  I  would  cherish  them  still  the  more  fondly.  In  the 
years  gone  by,  madam,  I  have  been  a  guest  at  the  Astor, 
the  Gait,  the  St.  Charles,  and  at  the  best  hotels  in  London 
and  upon  the  continent  of  Europe.  None  of  them  in  my 
humble  judgment  are  comparable  to  this.  I  assure  you  sol 
emnly,  madam,  that  I  have  lingered  in  this  village  month  after 
month  only  because  of  my  reluctance  to  tear  myself  away 
from  your  most  excellent  hotel." 

With  finger  raised,  step  advanced,  and  eye  fixed  uncharit 
ably  upon  the  offending  physician,  the  gentle  hostess  in  voice 
little  above  a  whisper,  said,  "Doc,  I  think  you  made  that  up 
out  of  whole  cloth ."  The  crisis  was  reached;  flesh  and  blood 
could  endure  no  more.  The  Doctor  rose,  and  waiving  all  for 
malities  and  farewells,  "  stood  not  upon  the  order  of  his  going." 

For  reasons  unnecessary  to  explain,  I  did  not  seek  the 
Doctor  that  evening  nor  the  following  day.  Morning  and 
noon  came  and  went,  but  the  chief  boarder  did  not  appear. 
The  vacant  chair  was  to  those  who  lingered  a  pathetic  re 
minder  of  the  sad  departure.  When,  upon  the  following 
evening,  the  surviving  boarders  gathered  to  their  accustomed 
places,  they  beheld  in  wonderment  a  splendid  pone,  savory 
and  hot,  flanked  upon  its  left  by  the  old  yellow  pitcher  filled 
to  its  brim  with  rich,  sweet  milk. 

A  moment  later,  and  all  eyes  were  turned  to  the  open  door 
through  which  a  once  familiar  figure  moved  to  his  seat.  Sud 
denly  stretching  both  arms  to  the  middle  of  the  table,  with 
one  hand  the  good  Doctor  grasped  the  pone,  and  with  the 
other  the  pitcher,  and  holding  both  aloft  as  he  gazed  upon 
each  boarder  in  turn,  exclaimed,  "I  understand  the  boarders 
are  not  fond  of  corn  bread."  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the 
Doctor,  the  pitcher,  the  pone  had  all  disappeared  from  the 


280  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

dining-room,  and  the  latter  two  were  ne'er  heard  of  more. 
The  poetic  justice  of  the  situation,  however,  was  so  complete, 
that  no  word  of  complaint  was  ever  uttered. 

Some  weeks  after  the  events  last  narrated,  I  heard  the 
sound  of  many  voices  accompanied  by  peals  of  laughter  com 
ing  from  the  office  of  Doctor  John.  Stopping  at  his  door,  I 
soon  learned  that  the  tumult  was  occasioned  by  a  discussion 
as  to  whether  the  Doctor  could  spell  "sugar  "  correctly.  The 
faction  adverse  to  the  physician  was  led  by  one  William 
Hawkins,  a  country  schoolmaster.  The  latter  and  his  allies 
bantered  and  badgered  the  old  Doctor  to  their  hearts'  con 
tent.  Rendered  desperate  at  length  by  their  merciless  gibes, 
the  Doctor,  taking  from  his  vest  pocket  a  five-dollar  bill — one 
I  had  loaned  him  an  hour  before  with  which  to  pay  a  couple 
of  weeks'  board  —  he  offered  to  bet  the  full  amount  that  he 
could  spell  the  word  correctly.  A  like  amount  being  at  length 
raised  by  the  adverse  faction,  the  question  at  once  arose  as 
to  who  should  be  the  arbiter.  Observing  me  for  the  first 
time  as  I  stood  at  the  door,  the  Doctor  declared  his  willing 
ness  to  accept  me  as  "  empire."  It  may  here  be  remarked 
that  the  honorable  office  to  which  I  was  thus  nominated  is 
sometimes  called  "  umpire."  Webster,  Worcester,  and  pos 
sibly  other  lexicographers  give  the  latter  pronunciation  the 
preference.  But  the  Doctor  being  "an  old  settler"  and  much 
better  acquainted  in  that  locality  than  either  of  the  other 
authorities,  his  preference  will  be  recognized,  and  "empire" 
it  will  be  to  the  end  of  this  chapter.  At  all  events  my  nomi 
nation  —  for  the  first  and  only  time  —  was  unanimously  con 
curred  in.  Stepping  at  once  into  the  office  and  confronting 
the  leaders  of  the  opposing  faction,  I  stated  candidly  that 
while  I  highly  appreciated  the  distinction  tendered,  still  I 
was  unwilling  to  accept  the  responsible  position  of  "empire" 
save  upon  the  explicit  agreement  that,  whatever  the  decision, 
there  should  be  no  complaint  or  grumbling  upon  the  part  of 
the  disaffected  or  disgruntled  hereafter;  that  "empires"  after 
all  were  only  men  and  liable  to  the  mistakes  and  errors  inci 
dent  to  our  poor  humanity.  To  the  end,  therefore,  that  an 
"empire"  act  with  proper  independence,  it  was  all  impor- 


AN  OLD-TIME  COUNTRY  DOCTOR  281 

tant  that  his  decision  pass  unchallenged.  These  reasonable 
requirements  being  readily  acquiesced  in,  the  -office  was  ac 
cepted  and  the  money  hazarded  by  each  faction  carefully 
deposited  in  the  " empire's"  vest  pocket.  The  arbiter  now 
solemnly  addressing  the  principal  actor  said:  "Doctor,  the 
word  is,  '  sugar ';  proceed  to  spell." 

The  Doctor  immediately  stood  up.  The  psychological 
question,  if  it  be  such,  is  here  presented  whether  standing 
is  the  more  eligible  position  for  the  severe  mental  effort  indi 
cated  above.  Waiving  all  discussion  upon  this  interesting 
point,  the  fact  is  here  faithfully  chronicled  that  the  Doctor 
stood  up.  Looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  but 
standing  majestically  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  present 
ing  in  some  of  its  characteristics  the  beauty  and  symmetry 
of  an  inverted  L,  the  Doctor  began,  "S-h-o-o-g  — "  whereupon 
the  little  schoolmaster  burst  into  loud  laughing.  Solemnly 
warning  him  against  the  repetition  of  such  conduct,  the 
arbiter  reminded  him  that  such  manifestations  in  the  very 
presence  of  the  "  empire,"  were  in  some  countries  punished 
with  immediate  death,  and  again  significantly  warned  him 
against  its  recurrence.  At  the  same  time  the  Doctor  was 
reminded  that  he  had  not  yet  completed  the  spelling  of  the 
word.  The  Doctor  replied,  "If  it  is  just  the  same  to  you, 
Mr.  Empire,  I  believe  I  will  begin  all  over  again."  Permis 
sion  being  granted,  the  spelling  was  resumed :  "S-h-o-o-g-o-r." 
To  this  the  arbiter  responded,  "You  have  spelled  the  word 
correctly,  Doctor,"  and  immediately  handed  him  the  stakes. 

One  of  the  interesting  events  occurring  during  my  resi 
dence  in  Metamora,  was  a  noted  temperance  revival  under 
the  auspices  of  "the  Grand  Worthy  Deputy"  of  a  well-known 
temperance  organization.  A  lodge  was  duly  organized,  and 
a  profound  interest  aroused  in  the  good  work.  During  the 
visit  of  the  excellent  lady  who  bore  with  becoming  modesty 
the  somewhat  formidable  title  above  given,  the  interest  deep 
ened,  meetings  were  of  nightly  occurrence,  and  large  numbers 
were  gathered  into  the  fold.  For  many  days  ordinary  pur 
suits  were  suspended,  and  the  grand  cause  was  the  only  and 
all-absorbing  topic  of  conversation. 


282  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Chief  among  the  initiated  was  our  old  friend  Doctor  John. 
His  conversion  created  a  profound  sensation,  and  it  veritably 
seemed  for  a  time  as  though  a  permanent  breach  had  been 
effected  in  the  ramparts  of  Satan.  It  was  even  boasted  that 
the  Presbyterian  clergyman,  one  saloon  keeper,  and  the 
writer  of  these  truthful  annals  were,  as  Judge  Tipton  would 
say,  "  substantially "  the  only  adherents  remaining  to  His 
Satanic  Majesty.  The  pressure  was,  however,  soon  irresisti 
ble,  and  the  writer,  deserting  his  sometime  associates,  at 
length  passed  over  to  the  wnsilent  majority. 

The  Doctor  was  the  bearer  of  my  petition,  and  in  due  time, 
and  as  the  sequel  will  show,  for  only  a  short  time,  I  was  in 
good  and  regular  standing.  As  explanatory  of  the  sudden 
termination  of  what  might  under  happier  auspices  have 
proved  an  eminently  useful  career,  it  may  be  casually  men 
tioned  that  upon  the  writer's  first  introduction  into  the  lodge, 
in  answer  to  the  official  inquiry  solemnly  propounded,  "  Why 
do  you  seek  admission  into  our  honorable  order?"  he  un 
wittingly  replied,  "Because  Doctor  John  joined" 

This  was  for  the  moment  permitted  to  pass,  and  the  ex 
ercises  of  the  session  reached  the  high-water  mark  of  enter 
tainment.  At  some  time  during  the  evening,  by  way  of 
" exemplifying  the  work,"  Doctor  John  had  for  the  second  time 
taken  the  solemn  vow  henceforth  and  forever  to  abstain  from 
the  use  of  all  fluids  of  alcoholic,  vinous,  or  fermented  character. 

The  hour  for  separation  at  length  drew  nigh.  Thus  far 
all  had  gone  merry  as  a  marriage  bell.  All  signs  betokened 
fair  weather.  Barring  the  temporary  commotion  occasioned 
by  the  uncanonical  reply  of  the  writer  above  given,  not  a 
ripple  had  appeared  upon  the  surface.  It  was  at  length  an 
nounced  that  this  was  the  last  evening  that  the  Grand  Worthy 
Deputy  could  be  with  us,  as  she  was  to  leave  for  her  distant 
home  by  the  stage  coach  in  the  early  morning.  Splendidly 
set  off  in  her  great  robes  of  office,  her  farewell  words  of  in 
struction,  encouragement,  and  admonition,  were  then  most 
tenderly  spoken.  Before  pronouncing  the  final  farewell  — 
"that  word  which  makes  us  linger" — she  calmly  remarked 
that  this  would  be  her  last  opportunity  to  expound  any  con- 


AN  OLD-TIME  COUNTRY  DOCTOR  «88 

stitutional  question  that  might  hereafter  arise  pertaining  to 
the  well-being  of  the  order,  and  that  she  would  gladly  answer 
any  inquiry  that  any  brother  or  sister  about  the  lodge  might 
propose.  Her  seat  was  then  resumed,  and  silence  for  the 
time  reigned  supreme.  At  length,  amid  stillness  that  could 
no  longer  be  endured,  she  arose  and  advancing  to  the  front 
of  the  platform,  repeated,  in  manner  more  solemn  than 
before,  the  invitation  above  given.  Still  there  was  no  re 
sponse.  It  all  seemed  formidable  and  afar  off.  In  the  hope 
that  he  might  in  some  measure  dispel  the  embarrassment, 
the  unworthy  chronicler  of  these  important  events,  from  his 
humble  place  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  lodge,  for  the 
first  and  last  time  addressed  the  chair.  Permission  being 
graciously  given  him  to  proceed,  he  candidly  admitted  that 
he  had  no  constitutional  question  himself  to  propound,  but 
that  Brother  John  was  in  grave  doubt  touching  a  question 
upon  which  he  would  be  glad  to  have  the  opinion  of 
the  chair. 

"I  understand,"  continued  the  speaker,  "from  the  nature 
of  the  pledge  that  if  any  brother,  or  sister  even  for  that 
matter,  should  partake  of  liquors  alcoholic,  vinous,  or  fer 
mented,  he  or  she  would  be  liable  to  expulsion  from  the 
order.  Am  I  correct?" 

"That  is  certainly  correct,  Brother  Stevenson/ '  was  the 
prompt  reply  in  no  uncertain  tone. 

"I  so  understand  it,"  continued  the  speaker,  "and  so  does 
Brother  John.  What  he  seeks  to  know  is  this:  If  in  an  un 
guarded  moment  he  should  hearken  to  the  voice  of  the 
tempter,  and  so  far  forget  his  solemn  vows  as  to  partake  of 
alcoholic,  vinous,  or  fermented  liquors,  and  be  expelled  there 
for,  would  he  thereby  be  wholly  beyond  the  pale  of  the  lodge, 
or  would  he  by  virtue  of  his  second  obligation  taken  this  night, 
have  another  chance,  and  still  retain  his  membership  in 
the  order?" 

The  official  answer,  in  tone  no  less  uncertain  than  before, 
was  instantly  given. 

"No,  sir,  if  Brother  John  or  you  either,  should  drink  one 
drop  of  the  liquors  mentioned  and  be  expelled  therefor,  you 


284  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

would  both  be  helplessly  beyond  the  pale  of  the  lodge,  even 
though  you  had  both  taken  the  obligation  a  thousand 
times! " 

As  the  ominous  applause  which  followed  died  away, 
Brother  John,  half  arising  in  his  seat,  vehemently 
exclaimed, 

"Mrs.  Worshipful  Master,  /  never  told  him  to  ask  no  such 
damn  fool  question! " 


XXV 

A   QUESTION    OF   AVAILABILITY 

A  POLITICAL  BANQUET  IN  ATLANTA,  GA.  —  GENERAL  GORDON 
PROPOSES  "THE  DEMOCRACY  OF  ILLINOIS"  —  THE  WRITER'S 
RESPONSE  —  A  DESIRE  IN  ILLINOIS  TO  NOMINATE  THE  HON. 
DAVID  DAVIS  FOR  PRESIDENT. 

ABOUT  the  year  of  grace  1889,  a  number  of  distinguished 
statesmen  were  invited  to  attend  a  political  banquet 
to  be  given  by  the  local  Democratic  Association  of  the 
splendid  city  of  Atlanta,  Georgia.  Among  the  guests  were 
Representative  Flower  of  New  York  and  General  Collins 
of  Massachusetts;  the  chief  guest  of  the  occasion  was  the 
Hon.  David  B.  Hill,  then  the  Governor  of  New  York.  The 
banquet  was  under  the  immediate  auspices  of  the  lamented 
Gordon,  and  of  Grady  of  glorious  memory.  The  board  liter 
ally  groaned  under  the  rarest  viands,  and  Southern  hospitality 
was  at  its  zenith.  It  was,  all  in  all,  an  occasion  to  live  in 
memory.  I  was  not  one  of  the  invited  guests  of  the  com 
mittee,  but  being  in  a  neighboring  city  was  invited  by  Mr. 
Grady  to  be  present. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  feast,  a  toast  was  proposed  to 
"The  Gallant  Democracy  of  New  York."  Glasses  were 
touched  and  the  enthusiasm  was  unbounded.  The  toast 
was  of  course  responded  to  by  the  distinguished  Governor 
of  the  Empire  State.  He  was  at  his  best.  His  speech, 
splendid  in  thought  and  diction,  was  heard  with  breathless 
interest. 

The  keynote  was  struck,  and  speech  after  speech  followed 
in  the  proper  vein.  There  was  no  discordant  note,  the  burden 
of  every  speech  being  the  gallant  Democracy  and  splendid 
statesmanship  of  the  great  State  of  New  York. 

When  the  distinguished  guests  had  all  spoken,  the  mas 
ter  of  ceremonies,  General  Gordon,  proposed  a  toast  to  "The 
Democracy  of  Illinois,"  and  called  upon  me  to  respond.  I 

285 


286  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE   KNOWN 

confessed  that  I  was  only  an  average  Democrat  from  Illinois; 
that  way  out  there  we  were  content  to  be  of  the  rank  and  file, 
and  of  course  to  follow  the  splendid  leadership  and  the  gal 
lant  Democracy  of  which  we  had  heard  so  much.  To  vote 
for  a  New  York  candidate  had  by  long  usage  become  a  fixed 
habit  with  us,  in  fact,  we  would  hardly  know  how  to  go 
about  voting  for  a  candidate  from  any  other  State;  and  I 
then  related  an  incident  on  the  question  of  supporting  the 
ticket,  which  I  thought  might  be  to  the  point. 

In  1872,  in  the  portion  of  Illinois  in  which  I  live,  there 
was  an  earnest  desire  on  the  part  of  conservative  Democrats 
and  liberal  Republicans,  to  elect  the  Hon.  David  Davis  to 
the  Presidency.  He  had  been  a  Whig  in  early  life,  brought  up 
in  the  school  of  Webster  and  Clay,  and  was  later  the  devoted 
personal  and  political  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  An  earnest 
Union  man  during  the  war,  he  had  at  its  close  favored  the 
prompt  restoration  to  the  Southern  people  of  all  their  rights 
under  the  Constitution.  As  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
he  had  rendered  a  decision  in  which  human  life  was  involved, 
in  which  he  had  declared  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution  in  war  as  well  as  in  peace.  Believing  that  he  would 
prove  an  acceptable  candidate,  I  had  gladly  joined  the  move 
ment  to  secure  his  nomination  at  the  now  historic  convention 
which  met  at  Cincinnati  in  May,  1872.  For  many  weeks 
prior  to  the  meeting  of  that  convention,  there  was  little 
talked  of  in  central  Illinois  but  the  nomination  of  Judge  Davis 
for  President.  Morning,  noon,  and  night,  "  Davis,  Davis, 
Davis, "  was  the  burden  of  our  song. 

He  did  not,  as  is  well  known,  receive  the  nomination, 
that  honor,  of  course,  passing  to  a  distinguished  Democratic 
statesman  of  New  York. 

Two  or  three  days  before  I  was  to  leave  my  home  for 
the  Cincinnati  convention,  an  old  Democratic  friend  from  an 
adjoining  county  came  into  my  office.  He  was  an  old-timer 
in  very  truth.  He  was  born  in  Tennessee,  had  when  a  mere 
boy  fought  under  Jackson  at  Talladega,  Tallapoosa,  and  New 
Orleans,  had  voted  for  him  three  times  for  the  Presidency, 
and  expected  to  join  him  when  he  died.  He  had  lived  in 


DAVID  DAVIS 


S.  S.  PRENTISS 


A  QUESTION  OF  AVAILABILITY  «87 

Illinois  since  the  "  big  snow/'  and  his  party  loyalty  was  a 
proverb. 

As  I  shook  hands  with  him  when  he  came  into  my  office, 
he  laid  aside  his  saddle-bags,  stood  his  rifle  in  the  corner, 
took  off  his  blanket  overcoat,  and  seating  himself  by  the 
fire,  inquired  how  my  "  folks  "  all  were.  The  answer  being 
satisfactory,  and  the  fact  ascertained  by  me  that  his  own 
"  folks  "  were  well,  he  asked, 

"Mr.  Stevenson,  who  are  you  fur  fur  President?" 
Unhesitatingly  and  earnestly  I  replied,  "Davis." 
A  shade,  as  of  disappointment,  appeared  for  a  moment 
upon  his  countenance,  but  instantly  recovering  himself,  he 
said,  "Well,  if  they  nominate  him,  we  will  give  him  the  usual 
majority  in  our  precinct,  but  don't  you  think,  Mr.  Steven 
son,  it  is  a  leetle  airly  to  bring  old  Jeff  out?" 


XXVI 
A   STATESMAN    OF   A   PAST   ERA 

ZEBULON  B.  VANCE,  THE  IDOLIZED  GOVERNOR  OF  NORTH  CARO 
LINA —  HIS  LEARNING  AND  HIS  HUMOR — HE  RECALLS  MEN 
AND  MATTERS  OP  THE  OLDEN  TIME  —  HE  SUITS  HIS  CREED  TO 
HIS  AUDIENCE  —  HIS  SPEECH  IN  FAVOR  OF  HORACE  GREELEY. 

A  NAME  to  conjure  with  in  the  old  North  State  is  Zeb 
Vance.  What  Lee  was  to  Virginia,  Hendricks  to  In 
diana,  Clay  to  Kentucky,  and  Lincoln  to  Illinois,  Zebu- 
Ion  B.  Vance  was  for  a  lifetime  to  North  Carolina.  He  was 
seldom  spoken  of  as  Governor,  or  Senator,  but  alike  in  piny 
woods  and  in  the  mountains,  he  was  familiarly  called  "Zeb 
Vance."  It  were  scant  praise  to  say  merely  that  he  was  pop 
ular.  He  was  the  idol  of  all  classes  and  conditions.  A  dec 
ade  has  gone  since  he  passed  to  the  grave,  but  his  memory 
is  still  green.  A  grateful  people  have  erected  a  monument 
to  commemorate  his  public  services,  while  from  the  French 
Broad  to  the  Atlantic,  alike  in  humble  cabin  and  stately  home, 
his  name  is  a  household  word. 

"  He  had  kept  the  whiteness  of  his  soul, 
And  thus  men  o'er  him  wept." 

The  expression  "rare,"  as  given  to  Ben  Jonson,  might 
with  equal  propriety  be  applied  to  Senator  Vance.  Deeply 
read  in  classic  lore,  a  profound  lawyer,  and  an  indefatigable 
student  from  the  beginning  in  all  that  pertained  to  human 
government,  he  was  the  fit  associate  of  the  most  cultured 
in  the  drawing-room  or  the  Senate.  None  the  less,  with  the 
homely  topics  of  everyday  life  for  discussion,  he  was  equally 
at  home,  and  ever  a  welcome  guest  at  the  hearthstone  of  the 
humblest  dweller  in  pine  forest  and  mountain  glen  of  his 
native  State. 

Of  all  the  men  I  have  ever  known,  Vance  was  par  excellence 
the  possessor  of  the  wondrous  gift  of  humor.  It  was  in- 

288 


A  STATESMAN  OF  A  PAST  ERA  289 

grained;  literally  a  part  of  his  very  being.  He  once  told  me 
that  he  thought  his  fame  for  one  generation,  at  least,  was 
secure,  inasmuch  as  one-half  of  the  freckled-faced  boys  and 
two- thirds  of  the  "yaller"  dogs  in  North  Carolina  had  been 
named  in  his  honor. 

Upon  one  occasion  in  the  Senate,  a  bill  he  had  introduced 
was  bitterly  antagonized  by  a  member  who  took  occasion 
in  his  speech,  while  questioning  the  sincerity  of  Vance,  to 
extol  his  own  honesty  of  purpose.  In  replying  to  the  vaunt 
of  superior  honesty  by  his  opponent,  Vance  quoted  the  old 
Southland  doggerel: 

"  De  darky  in  de  pie  camp  ground 

Dat  loudest  sing  and  shout 
Am  gwine  to  rob  a  hen-roost 
Befo'  de  week  am  out." 

The  summer  home  of  Senator  Vance  during  the  later 
years  of  his  life  was  in  his  native  county  of  Buncombe,  about 
twenty  miles  from  Asheville,  where  for  some  days  I  was  his 
guest,  many  years  ago.  Leaving  the  cars  at  the  nearest  sta 
tion  and  following  the  trail  for  a  dozen  miles,  I  found  the 
Senator  snugly  ensconced  in  his  comfortable  home  at  the  top 
of  the  mountain.  He  was  alone,  his  family  being  "down  in 
the  settlements,"  as  he  told  me.  An  old  negro  man  to  whom 
Vance  once  belonged,  as  he  assured  me,  was  housekeeper, 
cook,  and  butler,  besides  being  the  incumbent  of  various 
other  offices  of  usefulness  and  dignity. 

The  first  inquiry  from  Vance  as,  drenched  with  rain,  I 
entered  his  abode  and  approached  a  blazing  fire,  was,  "Are 
you  dry?"  It  would  only  gratify  an  idle  curiosity  to  tell 
how  the  first  moments  of  this  memorable  visit  passed. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  old-time  Southern  hospitality  was  at 
its  best,  and  so  continued  till  the  morning  of  the  fifth 
day,  when  I  descended  in  company  with  my  host  to  the 
accustomed  haunts  of  busy  men. 

The  days  and  evenings  passed  with  Vance  at  the  cheerful 
fireside  of  his  mountain  home  still  live  in  my  memory.  He 
literally  "unfolded  himself,"  and  it  was  indeed  worth  while 
to  listen  to  his  description  of  the  quaint  times  and  customs 


290  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

with  which  he  was  familiar  in  the  long  ago,  to  hear  of  the 
men  he  had  known  and  of  the  stormy  events  of  which  he 
had  been  a  part. 

His  public  life  reached  back  to  a  time  anterior  to  the  war. 
He  was  in  Congress  when  its  Representatives  assembled  in 
the  Old  Hall,  now  the  " Valhalla"  of  the  nation.  Events 
once  of  deep  significance  were  recalled  from  the  mists  of  a 
long  past;  men  who  had  strutted  their  brief  hour  upon  the 
stage  and  then  gone  out  with  the  tide  were  made  to  live 
again.  Incidents  once  fraught  with  deep  consequence  but 
now  relegated  to  the  by-paths  of  history,  were  again  in 
visible  presence,  as  if  touched  by  the  enchanter's  wand. 

The  scenes,  of  which  he  was  the  sad  and  silent  witness, 
attendant  upon  the  withdrawal  of  his  colleagues  and  associ 
ates  from  both  chambers  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  appeal 
to  the  sword  —  precursors  of  the  chapter  of  blood  yet  to  be 
written  —  were  never  more  graphically  depicted  by  mortal 
tongue. 

I  distinctly  recall,  even  at  this  lapse  of  time,  some  of  the 
incidents  he  related.  When  first  he  was  a  candidate  for 
Congress,  far  back  in  the  fifties,  his  district  embraced  a  large 
portion  of  the  territory  of  the  entire  western  part  of  his  State. 
Fully  to  appreciate  what  follows,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  at  that  time  there  was  in  the  backwoods  country,  and 
hi  the  out-of-the-way  places,  far  off  from  the  great  highways, 
much  of  antagonism  between  the  various  religious  denomina 
tions.  At  times  much  of  the  sermons  of  the  rural  preachers 
consisted  of  denunciations  of  other  churches.  By  a  perusal 
of  the  autobiography  of  the  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright,  it  will 
be  seen  that  western  North  Carolina  was  only  in  line 
with  other  portions  of  the  great  moral  vineyard.  The  doc 
trines  peculiar  to  the  particular  denomination  were  preached 
generally  with  great  earnestness  and  power.  "  Blest  be  the 
tie  that  binds  our  hearts  in  Christian  love/'  was  too  seldom 
heard  in  the  rural  congregations.  In  too  many,  indeed, 
Christian  charity,  even  in  a  modified  form,  was  an  unknown 
quantity. 

Under  the  conditions  mentioned,  to  say  that  seekers  of 


A  STATESMAN  OF  A  PAST  ERA  291 

public  place  obeyed  the  Apostolic  injunction  to  be  "all  things 
to  all  men7'  is  only  to  say  that  they  were  —  candidates. 

It  so  fell  out  that  our  candidate  for  Congress  at  the  time 
mentioned  was  quietly  threading  his  way  on  horseback  to 
meet  his  appointment.  Far  out  from  the  county  seat,  in  a 
wild  and  sparsely  populated  locality,  at  a  sudden  turn  in  the 
road  he  found  himself  in  the  immediate  presence  of  a  wor 
shipping  congregation  in  God's  first  temple.  It  was  what 
is  known  in  mountain  parlance  as  a  "  protracted  meeting." 
The  hour  was  noon,  and  the  little  flock  had  just  been  called 
from  labor  to  refreshment.  The  cloth  was  spread  in  the 
shade  of  a  large  tree,  and  liberally  supplied  with  ham,  fried 
chicken,  salt-rising  bread,  corn  dodgers,  cucumber  pickles, 
and  other  wholesome  edibles.  When  Vance  appeared  upon 
the  scene,  the  leader  of  the  little  flock  at  once  greeted  him 
with  cordial  invitation  to  " light  and  take  a  bite  with  us." 
The  candidate  accepted  the  invitation,  and  fastening  his  horse 
to  a  convenient  tree,  approached  the  assembled  worshippers, 
introducing  himself  as  "Zeb  Vance,  Whig  candidate  for  Con 
gress."  The  thought  uppermost  in  his  soul  as  he  shook 
hands  all  around  and  accepted  the  proffered  hospitality  was, 
"What  denomination  is  this?  Methodist?  Baptist?  What?" 
As  soon  as  this  inquiry  could  be  satisfactorily  answered,  he 
was,  of  course,  ready  to  join;  his  "letter"  was  ready  to  be 
handed  in.  But  as  he  quickly  scanned  the  faces  about  him, 
he  could  get  no  gleam  of  light  upon  the  all-important  ques 
tion.  Suddenly  his  meditations  were  ended,  the  abstract 
giving  way  to  the  concrete,  by  the  aforementioned  leader 
abruptly  inquiring,  "Mr.  Vance,  what  persuasion  are  you 
of?" 

The  hour  had  struck.  The  dreaded  inquiry  must  be 
answered  satisfactorily  and  at  once.  That  Vance  was  equal 
to  the  emergency  will  be  seen  from  the  sequel. 

Promptly  laying  down  the  chicken  leg,  the  chunk  of  salt- 
rising  bread,  and  cucumber  pickle  with  which  he  had  been 
abundantly  supplied  by  one  of  the  dear  old  sisters,  and  assum 
ing  an  appropriate  oratorical  pose,  with  his  eyes  intent 
upon  his  interrogator,  he  began: 


292          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"My  sainted  grandfather  was,  during  the  later  years  of 
his  long  and  useful  life,  a  ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church."  The  gathering  brow  and  shaking  head  of  the  local 
shepherd  would  even  to  a  less  observing  man  than  the  candi 
date  have  been  sufficient  warning  that  he  was  on  the  wrong 
trail.  "  But,"  continued  the  speaker,  "my  father  during  long 
years  of  faithful  service  in  the  Master's  cause  was  an  equally 
devout  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 

The  sombre  aspect  of  the  shepherd,  with  the  no  less  signi- 
cant  shake  of  the  head,  was  unmistakable  intimation  to  our 
candidate  that  danger  was  in  the  very  air.  Rallying  himself, 
however,  for  the  last  charge,  with  but  one  remaining  shot  in 
his  locker,  the  orator  earnestly  resumed:  "But,  when  /  came 
to  the  years  of  maturity,  and  was  able,  after  prayer  and  medi 
tation,  to  read  and  understand  that  blessed  book  myself,  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  old  Baptist  Church  was  right." 

"Bless  God!"  exclaimed  the  old  preacher,  seizing  Vance 
by  the  hand.  "He  is  all  right,  brethren!  Oh,  you'll  get 
all  the  votes  in  these  parts,  Brother  Vance!" 

Talking  along  religious  lines  at  the  time  of  the  visit  men 
tioned,  he  illustrated  the  difference  between  profession  and 
practice.  "Now,  there  is  my  brother  Bob,"  referring  to 
General  Robert  B.  Vance;  "he  is,  you  know,  a  Methodist, 
and  believes  in  falling  from  grace,  but  he  never  falls,  while  I 
am  a  Presbyterian,  and  don't  believe  in  falling  from  grace, 
but  I  am  always  falling!" 

The  first  wife  of  Senator  Vance  was  a  Presbyterian. 
Some  years  after  her  death,  he  was  married  to  an  excellent 
lady,  a  devoted  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Soon  thereafter,  he  was  taken  to  task  by  an  old  Presbyterian 
neighbor,  who  expressed  great  surprise  that  he  should  marry 
a  Catholic.  "Well,"  replied  the  Senator  with  imperturbable 
good  humor,  "the  fact  is,  Uncle  John,  as  I  had  tried  Rum, 
and  tried  Rebellion,  I  just  thought  I  would  try  Romanism 
too!" 

Many  years  ago,  near  the  western  border  of  Buncombe 
County,  lived  an  old  negro  who  had  in  early  life  been  a  member 
of  the  family  of  the  father  of  Senator  Vance.  In  a  little 


A  STATESMAN  OF  A  PAST  ERA  293 

cabin  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  "  Uncle  Ephraim,"  as  the 
old  negro  was  familiarly  called,  was,  as  he  had  been  for  two 
or  three  decades,  "  living  on  borrowed  time."  How  old  he 
was  no  man  could  tell.  When  in  confidential  mood,  he  would 
sometimes  tell  of  the  troubles  he  and  his  old  master  used  to 
have  with  the  Tories  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Mr.  Vance,  in  his  first  race  for  Congress,  having  finished 
his  speech  at  the  cross-roads  near  by,  visited  the  old  man, 
from  whom,  of  course,  he  received  a  warm  welcome.  In 
reply  to  the  inquiry  of  his  visitor  as  to  how  he  was  getting 
along,  the  old  negro  slowly  replied: 

"  Mighty  po'ly,  mighty  po'ly,  Mause  Zeb,  mighty  po'ly 
forninst  the  things  of  dis  world,  but  it 's  all  right  over  yander, 
over  yander." 

"What  church  do  you  belong  to,  Uncle  Ephraim?"  said 
Vance. 

"Well,  Mause  Zeb,  I 's  a  Presbyterian." 

"Uncle  Ephraim,"  said  Vance  with  great  solemnity,  "do 
you  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  election?" 

After  a  pause  and  with  equal  solemnity,  the  old  man 
responded:  "Mause  Zeb,  I  don't  pertend  to  understand  fully 
the  ins  and  outs  of  dat  doctrine,  but  'cordin'  to  my  under 
standing  it 's  de  doctrine  of  de  Bible,  and  I  bleebes  it." 

"Uncle  Ephraim,"  said  Vance,  "do  you  think  I  have  been 
elected  f" 

"Mause  Zeb,"  said  the  old  man  in  pathetic  tone,  "ef  it 's 
dest  de  same  to  you,  I  would  a  leetle  ruther  you  would  wif- 
draw  dat  question.  I  's  poorty  ole  and  gittin'  a  little  too 
near  de  grabe  to  tell  a  lie,  but  de  fac  am,  I  bin  livin'  round  in 
dese  parts  nigh  onto  a  hundred  years  and  knowed  a  heap  of 
de  big  mens  dat's  dead  and  gone,  and  I  neber  yet  knowed  nor 
hear  tell  of  no  man  bein'  'lee  ted,  what  wan't  a  candidate" 

Like  many  other  orators  of  his  party,  Senator  Vance  found 
the  position  of  champion  of  the  Democratic  nominee  for 
President  in  1872  one  of  extreme  embarrassment.  A  story 
he  occasionally  told,  however,  relieved  the  situation  greatly. 
He  said:  "My  fellow-citizens,  I  am  somewhat  in  the  position 
of  an  old-time,  illiterate  backwoods  preacher,  who  was  with 


294  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

great  difficulty  able  to  read  off,  after  a  fashion,  one  favorite 
hymn  at  which  his  book  always  opened  at  the  opportune 
moment.  One  Sunday  morning,  just  before  the  beginning 
of  the  services,  some  mischievous  boys,  not  having  the  fear 
of  the  Lord  before  their  eyes,  got  hold  of  the  book  and  pasted 
'Old  Grimes'  over  the  favorite  hymn.  At  the  auspicious 
moment  the  book  opened  at  the  accustomed  place,  and  the  old 
preacher,  after  properly  adjusting  his  glasses,  slowly  began: 
'Old  Grimes  is  dead,  that  good  old  man.'  Amazed  beyond 
description,  the  preacher  instantly  suspended  the  reading, 
carefully  wiped  off  his  glasses,  looked  appealingly  to  the 
congregation,  and  again  solemnly  and  slowly  began:  'Old 
Grimes  is  dead,  that  good  old  man.'  The  congregation  now 
equally  astounded  with  himself,  the  aged  pastor  suspended 
the  reading,  carefully  removed  his  glasses,  and  laying  down 
the  book,  solemnly  observed:  'My  beloved  friends,  I  have 
been  a-readin'  and  a-singin'  outen  this  blessed  book  for 
nigh  onto  forty  year,  and  I  never  seed  this  hymn  in  thar 
before;  but  it 's  in  thar,  brethren,  and  we  '11  sing  it  through 
if  it  smashes  up  this  meetin' !' 

"Now,"  continued  Vance,  "my  beloved  brethren,  I  have 
been  a-readin'  and  a-votin'  of  the  Democrat  ticket  nigh  onto 
forty  year,  and  I  never  seed  the  name  of  old  Horace  Greeley 
on  a  Democrat  ticket  before;  but  it 's  on  thar,  brethren,  and 
we  '11  vote  it  through  if  it  kills  us  —  and  it  does  come  devilish 
near  killing  the  most  of  w  I ;; 


XXVII 
NOT    GUILTY   OF   PREACHING   THE    GOSPEL 

THE  "DRAKE  CONSTITUTION"  IN  MISSOURI  —  THE  CRIME  OF 
PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL  —  A  PROVISION  OF  THIS  CONSTITU 
TION  FOUND  TO  BE  A  VIOLATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES  —  MINISTERS  OF  VARIOUS  SECTS  TRIED 

FOR   PREACHING    WITHOUT    FIRST   TAKING    AN   OATH   TO    SUP 
PORT  THE  "DRAKE  CONSTITUTION" — THE  JUDGE  FINDS  THAT 

NOT  ONE  OF  THEM  HAS  PREACHED  THE  GOSPEL. 

fTlHE  " holding"  of  a  nisi  prius  judge  upon  one  of  the 

J_     western  circuits  of  Missouri,  near  the  close  of  the  Civil 

War,  is  without  a  precedent,  and  it  is  quite  probable 

that  no  occasion  will  ever  arise  for  citing  it  as  an  authority. 

It  will  remain,  hov/ever,  a  case  in  point  of  how  a  " horse-sense" 

judge  can  protect  the  innocent  against  unusual  and  unjust 

prosecution. 

What  is  known  in  Missouri  history  as  the  "  Drake  Con 
stitution"  had  then  but  recently  supplanted  the  organic  law 
under  which  the  State  had  for  a  long  time  had  its  being.  No 
counterpart  of  the  Constitution  mentioned  has  ever  been 
framed  in  any  of  the  American  States.  It  could  have  been 
only  the  product  of  the  evil  days  when  "  judgment  had  fled 
to  brutish  beasts,  and  men  had  lost  their  reason."  Possibly 
at  no  time  or  place  in  our  history  has  there  been  more  em 
phatic  verification  of  the  axiom,  "In  the  midst  of  arms,  the 
laws  are  silent." 

The  "Drake  Constitution"  was  formulated  at  a  time 
when  fierce  passion  was  at  its  height,  when  the  sad  conse 
quences  of  civil  strife  were  felt  at  every  fireside,  when  neigh 
bor  was  arrayed  against  neighbor,  the  hand  of  brother 
uplifted  against  brother,  and  "a  man's  foes  were  they  of  his 
own  household."  As  is  well  known,  certain  provisions  of  this 
Constitution  were,  at  a  later  day  —  upon  a  writ  of  error  — 
set  aside  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  as  being 

295 


296  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

in  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  One  of  the  thirty 
distinct  affirmations  or  tests  of  the  Drake  Constitution  was 
to  the  effect  that,  if  any  minister  or  priest  should  be  guilty  of 
the  crime  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  or  of  solemnizing  the  rite 
of  marriage,  without  first  having  taken  an  oath  to  support 
said  Constitution,  he  should,  upon  conviction,  be  subjected 
to  a  fine  of  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  imprisonment 
for  six  months  in  the  common  jail,  or  both. 

Under  the  provision  indicated,  a  Catholic  priest  was  con 
victed  in  one  of  the  circuit  courts  of  Missouri,  and  duly  sen 
tenced  to  fine  and  imprisonment.  Upon  his  appeal,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  reversed  the  decision  of 
the  lower  court,  and  virtually  abrogated  the  provision  of  the 
Constitution  under  which  the  accused  had  been  convicted. 
The  great  court  of  last  resort  decided  the  test  oath,  imposed 
as  above  mentioned,  to  be  a  violation  of  that  provision  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  declares,  "No  State 
shall  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  or  ex  post  facto  law."  It  held 
a  bill  of  attainder  to  be  "a  legislative  act  which  inflicts 
punishment  without  a  judicial  trial";  and  an  ex  post  facto 
law  "one  which  imposes  a  punishment  for  an  act  which  was 
not  punishable  at  the  time  it  was  committed;  or  imposes 
additional  punishment  to  that  then  prescribed."  The  court 
said:  "The oath  thus  required  is,  for  its  severity,  without  any 
precedent  that  we  can  discover.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
retrospective;  it  embraces  all  the  past  from  this  day;  and  if 
taken  years  hence,  it  will  also  cover  all  the  intervening  period. 
...  It  allows  no  distinction  between  acts  springing  from 
malignant  enmity,  and  acts  which  may  have  been  prompted 
by  charity,  or  affection,  or  relationship.  .  .  .  The 
clauses  in  question  subvert  the  presumptions  of  innocence, 
and  alter  the  rules  of  evidence  which  heretofore,  under  the 
universally  recognized  principles  of  the  common  law,  have 
been  supposed  to  be  fundamental  and  unchangeable.  They 
assume  that  the  parties  are  guilty;  they  call  upon  the  parties 
to  establish  their  innocence;  and  declare  that  such  innocence 
can  be  shown  only  in  one  way  —  by  an  inquisition  in  the  form 
of  an  expurgatory  oath  into  the  consciences  of  the  parties." 


NOT  GUILTY  OF  PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL     297 

And  then,  as  preliminary  to  the  discharge  of  the  priest  from 
long  imprisonment,  the  court  concludes  its  opinion  with  a 
pertinent  quotation  from  the  writings  of  Alexander  Hamilton : 
"It  substitutes  for  the  established  and  legal  mode  of  investi 
gating  crimes  and  inflicting  forfeitures,  one  that  is  unknown 
to  the  Constitution,  and  repugnant  to  the  genius  of  our  law."* 

During  the  period  extending  from  the  promulgation  of 
the  Drake  Constitution  to  the  setting  aside  of  some  of  its 
obnoxious  provisions  as  heretofore  mentioned,  an  old-time 
judge  still  held  court  on  one  of  the  Missouri  circuits.  He  had 
somehow  been  overlooked  in  the  political  upheaval  to  which 
the  State  had  been  subjected.  He  had  come  down  from  a 
former  generation,  and,  unabashed  by  the  clash  of  arms,  still 
moved  sturdily  on  in  his  wonted  way.  The  rife  spirit  that 
boded  destruction  to  ancient  landmarks  had  passed  him  by; 
Magna  Charta  and  the  Bill  of  Rights  were  to  him  abiding 
verities. 

Now  it  so  fell  out  that  during  the  period  mentioned,  while 
presiding  in  one  of  the  border  counties  of  his  circuit,  he  was 
greatly  astonished,  at  the  opening  of  his  court  upon  a  certain 
morning,  to  find  half  a  dozen  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  all  of 
whom  were  personally  known  to  him,  snugly  seated  in  the 
prisoners'  box. 

With  characteristic  brusqueness,  the  judge  at  once  de 
manded  of  the  attorney  for  the  Commonwealth  why  these 
men  were  under  arrest.  The  not  unexpected  reply  was,  that 
they  had  been  indicted  for  preaching  without  first  taking  an 
oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Missouri. 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Prosecutor,  a  very  serious  offence,  a  very  serious 
offence  indeed.  The  makers  of  our  fundamental  law  have 
wisely  provided  that  no  man  shall  be  permitted  to  preach  the 
Gospel  until  he  has  first  taken  an  oath  to  support  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  State  of  Missouri.  It  is  the  duty  of  this  court 
to  see  to  it  that  this  wholesome  provision  of  our  Constitution 
is  duly  enforced." 

Addressing  himself  now  to  the  prisoner  nearest  him,  His 
Honor  inquired:  "Is  it  possible,  sir,  that  you  have  been  guilty 
of  the  crime  of  preaching  the  Gospel  without  having  first 

*  Fourth  Wallace  Reports. 


298  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

taken  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of 
Missouri?7'  The  prisoner,  a  tall,  venerable-appearing  gentle 
man,  in  typical  black,  quietly  replied  that  he  could  not  con 
scientiously  take  the  required  oath,  but  had  only  continued 
in  the  pastoral  work  in  which  he  had  been  for  a  lifetime 
engaged. 

"A  mere  subterfuge,  a  mere  subterfuge,  Mr.  Prosecutor," 
observed  the  judge,  as  with  apparent  fierceness  his  eyes 
were  fixed  upon  the  offender.  "This  prisoner  cannot  be  per 
mitted,  sir,  to  interpose  his  conscience  as  a  barrier  against 
the  enforcement  of  this  salutary  provision  of  our  most 
excellent  Constitution.  He  must  be  punished,  sir,  he  must 
be  punished." 

After  reading  aloud  the  penalty  imposed  for  the  com 
mission  of  the  offence  mentioned,  and  with  pen  in  hand  as  if 
about  to  make  the  appropriate  entry  upon  the  docket,  His 
Honor  again  turned  to  the  prisoner  and  inquired : 

"  Of  what  church  are  you  a  minister?  "  The  steady  reply, 
as  of  one  prepared  for  the  worst,  was, 

"I  am  a  Presbyterian,  Your  Honor." 

' '  Presbyterian !  Presbyterian ! ' '  quickly  observed  the  sage 
interpreter  of  the  law.  "Oh,  you  preach  the  tenets  and  doc 
trines  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  do  you?"  An  affirmative 
reply  was  modestly  given. 

"You  preach,"  continued  His  Honor  in  apparent  amaze 
ment,  "the  doctrine  of  infant  baptism,  and  of  the  final  per 
severance  of  the  saints,  do  you?"  An  answer  like  the  last 
being  given,  the  judge  remarked: 

"You  appear  to  be  a  man  of  intelligence,  but  don't  you 
know,  sir,  that  that  is  n't  the  Gospel?  He  has  not  been  guilty 
of  preaching  the  Gospel,  Mr.  Prosecutor,  and  will  have  to  be 
discharged.  You  can  go,  sir,  but  if  this  court  ever  hears  that 
you  have  been  actually  guilty  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  you 
will  be  punished  to  the  full  extent  of  the  law." 

Addressing  himself  now  to  the  comparatively  youth 
ful  occupant  of  the  lately  vacated  seat,  His  Honor  inquired : 

"What  is  your  church,  sir?" 

In  a  manner  by  no  means  aggressive,  and  with  tones  the 


NOT  GUILTY  OF  PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL       299 

counterpart  of  the  humblest  that  ever  came  from  an  Amen 
corner,  the  reply  was, 

"I  am  a  Methodist,  may  it  please  the  Court." 

Eying  the  prisoner  keenly,  and  with  a  manner  expressive 
of  surprise  to  which  all  that  had  gone  before  seemed  indiffer 
ence  itself,  his  Honor,  with  apparent  difficulty,  at  length 
ejaculated: 

"A  Methodist,  a  Methodist,  Mr.  Prosecutor.  Oh,  you 
preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Methodist  Church,  do  you?  —  in 
fant  baptism,  and  falling  from  grace?"  To  these  hurried 
interrogatories,  an  affirmative  was  meekly  but  distinctly 
given. 

"Well,  don't  you  know  that  that  is  n't  the  Gospel?  He  is 
not  guilty  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  Mr.  Prosecutor,  and  will 
have  to  be  discharged.  You  can  go,  sir,  but  if  this  Court  ever 
learns  that  you  have  been  really  guilty  of  preaching  the 
Gospel  without  first  taking  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  you  will  have  to  be  punished, 
sir;  the  Court  will  see  that  there  is  no  evasion  of  this  salu 
tary  provision  of  our  most  excellent  Constitution.  Go,  sir.11 

A  clean-shaven,  benevolent-looking  gentleman  of  middle 
age  was  next  in  evidence.  He  had  but  recently  assumed 
his  present  pastorate  and  was  a  deeply  interested  and 
attentive  observer  of  all  that  was  happening.  In  reply  to 
the  inquiry  from  the  bench,  he  answered  that  he  was  a 
Universalist. 

"A  Universalist!"  replied  the  judge,  almost  astounded 
beyond  the  power  of  expression.  Recovering  himself,  he  at 
length  inquired: 

"You  preach  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation,  do  you?" 

A  slight  bow  indicated  such  to  be  the  fact. 

"You  preach,"  continued  his  Honor,  with  warmth  well 
suited  to  the  subject-matter,  "that  there  is  no  hell?" 

A  bow,  much  more  emphatic,  was  unmistakable  ev 
idence  that  its  author  was  a  man  who  had  the  courage  of  his 
convictions. 

"He  does  n't  believe  that  there  is  any  hell,  Mr.  Prosecu 
tor,"  thundered  the  judge,  "he  will  have  to  be  discharged; 


300  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

it  is  no  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Missouri 
to  preach  such  infernal  nonsense  as  that." 

The  official  admonition,  ''Depart,  sir,"  was  promptly 
obeyed,  and  the  apostle  of  the  broad  highway  followed 
quickly  in  the  wake  of  the  aforementioned  disciples  of  Calvin 
and  Wesley,  in  the  "  narrow  path  "  which  led  straightway  out 
of  the  crowded  court-room. 

In  rapid  succession  the  two  remaining  prisoners  on  the 
front  bench  were  questioned,  and  each  in  turn  found  "not 
guilty"  of  preaching  the  Gospel.  An  avowal  of  his  belief  in 
the  tenet  of  "the  Apostolic  succession"  instantly  resulted  in 
the  acquittal  of  the  first,  while  the  second  was  with  equal 
promptness  found  "not  guilty"  upon  his  admission  that  he 
preached  the  doctrine  of  "regeneration  by  — "  There 
was  much  confusion  in  the  court-room  at  this  moment,  and 
the  reporter  failed  to  catch  the  concluding  words  of  the  con 
fession.  Finding  himself,  moreover,  getting  into  deep  water, 
he  thoughtfully  left  on  record  that  both  the  Episcopalian  and 
the  Christian  pastor  left  the  court-room  with  the  admoni 
tion  ringing  in  their  ears,  that  if  they  were  ever  actually 
found  guilty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  they  should  be  duly 
punished. 

A  lone  prisoner  remained  in  the  dock.  The  days  of  the 
years  of  his  pilgrimage  were  not  few,  and  quite  probably, 
except  in  a  figurative  sense,  not  evil.  He  was  of  sturdy 
build,  quiet  manners,  and  his  countenance  was  indicative  of 
great  sincerity.  In  a  voice  extremely  deferential  he  stated 
that  he  had  once  ministered  to  a  dying  Confederate,  and  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  take  the  required  oath  that  he  had 
never  expressed  any  sympathy  for  any  person  who  had  ever 
been  engaged  in  the  Rebellion. 

"Of  what  church  are  you  a  minister?"  interrupted  the 
judge. 

"The  Baptist  Church,"  was  the  answer. 

"The  Baptist  Church,  "  instantly  repeated  the  judge,  and 
looking  very  earnestly  at  the  accused,  he  asked : 

"Do  you  preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Baptist  Church?" 

An  affirmative  answer  having  been  given,  His  Honor  said : 


NOT  GUILTY  OF  PREACHING  THE  GOSPEL      301 

"Upon  his  own  confession  he  is  guilty,  Mr.  Prosecutor; 
the  Court  holds  the  Baptist  to  be  the  true  church,  and  this 
defendant  has  been  guilty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  without 
first  taking  the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  State 
of  Missouri.  He  will  have  to  be  punished." 

Addressing  the  prisoner,  he  said:  "You  will  have  to  be 
punished,  sir;  this  Court  can  permit  no  excuse  or  evasion." 

The  graveyard  stillness  that  now  fell  upon  the  little  as 
semblage  was  at  length  broken  by  His  Honor  reading  aloud 
the  prescribed  punishment  for  preaching  the  Gospel  without 
first  having  taken  the  required  oath. 

"Yes,  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars  or  six  months  in  the 
common  jail,  or  both.  A  clear  case,  Mr.  Prosecutor,  this 
prisoner  must  be  made  an  example  of;  hand  me  the  docket, 
Mr.  Clerk.  Yes,  the  full  penalty." 

Then,  before  making  the  fatal  entry,  suddenly  turning 
to  the  prisoner,  he  demanded; 

"How  long  have  you  been  preaching  the  Gospel?" 

In  hardly  audible  accents,  the  answer  tremblingly  given 
was, 

"I  have  been  trying  to  preach  the  Gospel — " 

"Only  trying  to  preach  the  Gospel,  only  trying  to  preach 
the  Gospel!"  exclaimed  the  judge.  "There  is  no  law,  Mr. 
Prosecutor,  against  merely  trying  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
You  can  go,  sir;  but  if  this  Court  ever  hears  that  you  have 
succeeded  in  actually  preaching  the  Gospel,  you  will  be 
punished,  sir! " 


XXVIII 
AMONG   THE   ACTORS 

THE  GIVING  OF  PLEASURE  THE  ACTOR'S  AIM  —  PRAISE  OP  NOTABLE 
ACTORS  —  BARRETT,    FORREST,    McCULLOUGH,    EDWIN   BOOTH, 

WILKES     BOOTH,     JEFFERSON,     IRVING MACBETH7S     PRAISE 

OF  SLEEP. 

ON  the  evening  of  October  27,  1908,  a  meeting  was  held 
in  the  Grand  Opera  House,  Chicago,  Illinois,  in  the 
interest  of  the  Democratic  candidates  in  the  campaign 
then  pending.    The  meeting  began  a  few  minutes  after  mid 
night,  and  the  immense  audience  consisted,  in  a  large  measure, 
of  actors  and  actresses  and  their  attendants  from  the  various 
theatres  of  the  city. 

After  an  eloquent  political  speech  by  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Alschuler  and  a  stirring  recitation  by  one  of  the  actors,  I 
was  introduced,  and  spoke  as  follows: 

"I  am  grateful  for  the  opportunity  under  such  happy 
auspices,  to  bid  you  good-morning.  I  would  count  my 
self  fortunate,  indeed,  could  I  contribute  even  the  small 
est  mite  to  the  enjoyment  of  those  who  have  in  such 
unstinted  measure  dispensed  pleasure  to  so  many  of  the  hu 
man  family,  to  the  representatives  of  a  profession  which, 
struggling  up  through  the  centuries,  has  at  last  found  hon 
ored  and  abiding  place  in  a  broader  civilization,  a  calling 
whose  sublime  mission  it  is  to  give  surcease  to  harassing 
care,  to  smooth  out  the  wrinkles  from  the  brow,  bring  glad 
ness  to  the  eye,  to  teach  that 

'  Behind  the  clouds  is  the  sun  still  smiling '; 
in  a  word,  to  add  to  the  sum  of  human  happiness. 

"It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  in  the  happy  years  gone  by, 
to  have  had  the  personal  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  most 
eminent  of  your  profession.  Under  the  witchery  of  this 
inspiring  presence,  'the  graves  of  memory  render  up  their 
dead.'  Again  I  hear  from  the  lips  of  Barrett:  'Take  away 

302 


AMONG  THE  ACTORS  303 

the  sword;  States  can  be  saved  without  it!'  '  How  love, 
like  death,  levels  all  ranks,  and  lays  the  shepherd's  crook 
beside  the  sceptre!' 

"Who  that  ever  saw  Forrest  i sitting  as  if  in  judgment 
upon  kings'  could  forget  that  superb  presence?  In  the  silent 
watches,  even  yet,  steal  upon  us  in  ominous  accents  the 
words,  Tut  out  the  light,  and  then  put  out  the  light!' 
Complimented  upon  the  manner  in  which  he  played  Lear, 
he  angrily  exclaimed:  ' Played  Lear,  played  Lear?  I  play 
Hamlet,  I  play  Macbeth,  I  play  Othello;  but  I  am  Lear!' 
Possibly  the  art  of  the  tragedian  has  known  no  loftier  tri 
umph  than  in  Forrest's  rendition  of  Lear's  curse  upon  the 
unnatural  daughter: 

1  Let  it  stamp  wrinkles  in  her  brow  of  youth; 
With  cadent  tears  fret  channels  in  her  cheeks; 
Turn  all  her  mother's  pains  and  benefits 
To  laughter  and  contempt ! ' 

"A  third  of  a  century  ago,  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
John  McCullough,  then  at  the  very  zenith  of  his  fame.  In 
even  measure  as  was  the  elder  Booth  Richard  the  Third, 
Forrest,  King  Lear,  or  Edwin  Booth,  Hamlet,  so  was  McCul 
lough  the  born  Macbeth.  When  I  first  saw  him  emerge 
with  dishevelled  hair  and  bloody  hands  from  the  apartment 
of  the  murdered  king,  I  was,  I  confess,  in  mortal  dread  of 
the  darkness.  I  have  heard  another  since  of  even  greater 
repute  in  that  masterful  impersonation,  but  with  me  to  the 
last,  John  McCullough  will  remain  the  veritable  Macbeth. 
His  are  the  words  that  linger : 

'  I  go,  and  it  is  done;  the  bell  invites  me, 
Hear  it  not,  Duncan;  for  it  is  the  knell 
That  summons  thee  to  heaven  or  to  hell/ 

"Edwin  Booth  has  stepped  from  the  stage  of  living  men, 
and  when  in  the  tide  of  time  will  such  a  Hamlet  again  appear? 
To  him  Nature  had  been  prodigal  of  her  choicest  blessings. 
Every  gift  the  gods  could  bestow  to  the  full  equipment  of 
the  interpeter,  the  actor,  the  master,  was  his. 

'  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
We  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again/ 


804  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"Many  moons  will  wax  and  wane  before  from  other  lips, 
as  from  his,  will  fall: 

'  Or  that  the  Everlasting  had  not  fixed 
His  canon  'gainst  self-slaughter.' 

or,  giving   expression   to  thoughts  from  the  very  depths, 
which  have  in  all  the  ages  held  back  from  such  dread  ending : 

'To  die,  to  sleep; 

To  sleep!  perchance  to  dream;  aye,  there  's  the  rub; 
For  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreams  may  come, 
When  we  have  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil, 
Must  give  us  pause/ 

"The  ever-abiding  memory  that  his  brother  was  the  real 
actor  in  a  tragic  scene  that  gave  pause  to  the  world,  burdened 
the  heart  and  mellowed  the  tone  of  Edwin  Booth,  and  no 
doubt  linked  him  in  closer  touch  with  what  has,  as  by  the 
enchanter's  wand,  been  portrayed  of  the  '  melancholy  Dane/ 

'Two  years  before  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln, 
I  heard  Wilkes  Booth  as  Romeo  at  the  old  McVicker.  The 
passing  years  have  not  wholly  dimmed  his 

'Night's  candles  are  burnt  out,  and  jocund  day 
Stands  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain-tops/ 

and  then,  as  if  forecasting  a  scene  to  strike  horror  even  in 
'States unborn  and  in  accents  y.et  unknown/  the  exclamation: 

'  I  must  be  gone  and  live, 
Or  stay  and  die!' 

"High  on  the  list  of  the  world's  benefactors  write  the 
name  of  Joe  Jefferson,  as  one  who  loved  his  fellow-men. 
Whatever  betide,  his  fame  is  secure.  'Age  cannot  wither'; 
it  was  in  very  truth  high  privilege  to  have  known  him;  to 
have  met  him  face  to  face. 

"There  come  moments  to  all  when  we  gladly  put  aside 
the  masterpieces  of  the  great  bard,  and  find  solace  in  sim 
pler  lays;  such  as,  it  may  be,  appear  of  kinship  with  the 
happenings  of  daily  life.  The  mighty  thoughts  of  the  former 
unceasingly  suggest  life's  endless  toil  and  endeavor. 

"In  words  that  have  touched  many  hearts  our  own  poet 
suggests: 


EDWIN  BOOTH 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON 


AMONG  THE  ACTORS  305 

'  Read  from  some  humbler  poet, 
Whose  songs  gushed  from  his  heart; 

Such  songs  have  power  to  quiet 
The  restless  pulse  of  care.' 

"And  so,  there  are  times  when  the  stately  rendition  of 
the  masterpieces,  even  with  the  greatest  tragedians  in  the 
role,  weary  us,  and  we  give  glad  welcome  to  Bob  Acres  with 
'his  courage  oozing  out  at  his  finger  ends/  or  to  dear  old 
Rip  and  ' Here's  to  yourself  and  to  your  family.  Jus'  one 
more ;  this  one  won't  count! ' 

"The  superb  acting  of  Irving  in  Louis  the  Eleventh;  the 
grandeur  of  Forrest  with  ' Othello's  occupation  gone';  of 
McCullough  in  Macbeth,  'supped  full  with  horrors';  even 
of  Booth  with  the  ever-recurring  'To  be,  or  not  to  be,'  the 
eternal  question,  all  pass  with  the  occasion.  But  who  can 
forget  the  gladsome  hours  of  mingled  pathos  and  mirth  with 
glorious  Joe  Jefferson,  the  star!  His  life  was  hourly  the 
illustration  of  the  sublime  truth: 

'  There  is  nothing  so  kingly  as  kindness.' 
"Upon  his  tablet  might  truly  be  written: 

'  He  never  made  a  brow  look  dark, 
Nor  caused  a  tear  but  when  he  died.' 

"It  is  ever  an  ungracious  task  to  speak  in  terms  of  dis 
paragement  of  a  lady.  There  is  one,  however,  of  whom, 
even  in  this  gracious  presence,  I  am  constrained  to  speak 
without  restraint.  To  the  splendid  assemblage  before  me 
she  was  unknown;  possibly,  however,  some  veteran  upon 
this  platform  may  have  enjoyed  her  personal  acquaintance. 
I  refer  to  the  late  Mrs.  Macbeth.  I  would  not  be  misunder 
stood.  My  criticism  of  the  conduct  of  this  lady  has  no 
reference  to  her  share  in  the  'taking  off'  of  the  vener 
able  Duncan.  Even  barring  her  gentle  interposition,  he 
would  long  ere  this  have  'paid  his  breath  to  time  and 
mortal  custom.'  My  cause  of  complaint  is  more  serious 
and  far-reaching.  It  will  be  remembered  that  her  high- 
placed  husband  upon  a  time  was  the  victim  of  insomnia. 


306  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

In  his  wakeful  hours,  as  he  tossed  upon  his  couch,  he  even 
made  the  confession,  now  of  record,  that 

'  Glamis  hath  murdered  sleep.' 

"He  apparently  drew  no  comfort  from  the  reflection  that 
his  late  benefactor,  the  murdered  king, 

1  After  life's  fitful  fever  he  sleeps  well.' 

"  Burdened  with  thoughts  beyond  the  reaches  of  our  souls, 
the  sometime  Thane  of  Cawdor  indulged  in  an  apostrophe 
to  'the  dull  god'  which  has  enduring  place  in  all  language: 

'Sleep,  that  knits  up  the  ravelPd  sleave  of  care, 
The  death  of  each  day's  life,  sore  labour's  bath, 
Balm  of  hurt  minds,  great  nature's  second  course, 
Chief  nourisher  in  Life's  feast, — ' 

"At  this  crucial  moment,  came  the  untimely  interruption 
of  Mrs.  Macbeth,  demanding  of  her  husband,  'What  do  you 
mean? ' 

"The  spell  was  broken,  and  for  all  time  the  sublime  apos 
trophe  to  sleep  unfinished.  What  he  might  next  have  said, 
whose  lips  can  tell?  Words  possibly  to  be  spoken  by  every 
tongue,  to  be  crystallized  into  every  language.  Her  ill-fated 
interruption  can  never  be  forgiven.  The  practical  lesson 
to  be  drawn,  one  for  all  the  ages,  is  the  peril  involved  in  a 
wife's  untimely  interruption  of  the  wise  observations  and 
sage  reflections  of  her  husband. 

"This  coming  together  to-night  may  justify  the  remark 
that  satire  upon  the  proverbial  caution  of  candidates  in  ex 
pressing  an  opinion  upon  any  subject  was  perhaps  never 
better  illustrated  than  in  the  incident  now  to  be  related. 
Upon  a  time  many  years  ago,  when  approaching  the  Capitol 
from  Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  company  with  my  friend  Proc 
tor  Knott,  a  tall,  solemn-appearing  individual  addressed  the 
latter  as  follows:  'Mr.  Knott,  I  would  like  to  have  your 
opinion  as  to  which  is  the  best  play,  "Hamlet"  or  "Macbeth." ; 
With  a  characteristic  expression  of  countenance,  Knott,  with 
deprecatory  gesture,  slowly  replied: 

"  'My  friend,  don't  ask  me  that  question;  I  am  a  politician, 
a  candidate  for  Congress,  and  my  district  is  about  equally 


AMONG  THE  ACTORS  307 

divided;  Hamlet  has  his  friends  down  there,  and  Macbeth  has 
his,  and  /  will  take  no  part  between  them.1 

"This  observation  recalls  an  incident  of  recent  occurrence 
in  a  neighboring  city.  A  friend  of  mine,  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel  —  you  will  bear  in  mind  that  my  friends  are  not  all 
actors — and  this  recalls  the  dilemma  of  a  candidate  who, 
upon  inquiry  as  to  the  comparative  merits  of  heaven  and  its 
antipode,  cautiously  declined  to  express  an  opinion,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  friends  in  both  places  —  this  minister,  upon 
being  installed  in  a  new  pastorate,  was  almost  immediately 
requested  to  preach  at  the  funeral  of  a  prominent  member 
of  his  congregation.  Unacquainted  as  he  was  with  the  life  of 
the  deceased,  he  made  inquiry  as  to  his  last  utterances. 

"He  recalled  the  last  words  of  Webster,  'I  am  content7; 
of  John  Quincy  Adams,  'This  is  the  last  of  earth ';  and  even 
the  cheerless  exclamation  of  Mirabeau,  'Let  my  ears  be 
filled  with  martial  music,  crown  me  with  flowers,  and  thus 
shall  I  enter  on  my  eternal  sleep.'  Charged  with  these  re 
flections,  and  hoping  to  find  the  nucleus  of  a  funeral  sermon, 
the  minister  made  inquiry  of  the  son  of  the  deceased  parish 
ioner,  'What  were  the  last  words  of  your  father?'  The 
unexpected  reply  was,  'Pap  he  did  n't  have  no  last  words; 
mother  she  just  stayed  by  him  till  he  died.' 

"And  now,  my  friends,  as  the  curtain  falls,  my  last 
words  to  you: 

'  Say  not  Good-night, 
But  in  some  brighter  clime 
Bid  me  Good-morning! '  " 


XXIX 
THE  LOST  ART  OF  ORATORY 

DANIEL  WEBSTER'S  SPEECHES  —  HIS  PATRIOTIC  SERVICE  IN 
FORMULATING  THE  ASHBURTON  TREATY  —  PRENTISS's  DE 
FENCE  OF  THE  RIGHT  OF  MISSISSIPPI  TO  REPRESENTATION 
—  THE  EFFECT  OF  HIS  ELOQUENCE  ON  A  MURDERER  —  HIS 
PLEA  FOR  MERCY  TO  A  CLIENT  —  WEBSTER  WINS  AN  APPAR 
ENTLY  HOPELESS  CASE  —  INGERSOLL;S  REVIEW  OF  THE 
CAREER  OF  NAPOLEON  —  HON.  ISAAC  N.  PHILLIPS's  EULOGY 
UPON  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  —  SENATOR  INGALLS'S  TRIBUTE  TO 
A  COLLEAGUE  —  A  SINGLE  ELOQUENT  SENTENCE  FROM 
EDWARD  EVERETT — SPEECH  OF  NOMINATION  FOR  WILLIAM 
J.  BRYAN  —  MR.  BRYAN'S  ELOQUENCE  —  CLOSING  SENTENCES 
OF  HIS  "PRINCE  OF  PEACE." 

ONE  of  the  most  cultured  and  entertaining  gentlemen  I 
have  ever  known  was  the  late  Gardner  Hubbard.    His 
last  years  were  spent  quietly  in  Washington,  but  earlier 
in  life  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  Massachusetts  bar. 

In  my  conversations  with  him  he  related  many  interesting 
incidents  of  Daniel  Webster,  with  whom  he  was  well  ac 
quainted.  In  the  early  professional  life  of  Hubbard,  Mr. 
Webster  was  still  at  the  bar;  his  speech  for  the  prosecution 
in  the  memorable  Knapp  murder  trial  has  been  read  with  pro 
found  interest  by  three  generations  of  lawyers.  As  a  powerful 
and  eloquent  discussion  of  circumstantial  evidence,  in  all  its 
phases,  it  scarcely  has  a  parallel;  quotations  from  it  have 
found  their  way  into  all  languages.  How  startling  his  de 
scription  of  the  stealthy  tread  of  the  assassin  upon  his  victim! 
We  seem  to  stand  in  the  very  presence  of  murder  itself: 

"Deep  sleep  had  fallen  on  the  destined  victim  and  on  all 
beneath  his  roof.  A  healthful  old  man,  to  whom  sleep  was 
sweet,  and  the  first  sound  slumbers  of  the  night  held  him  in 
their  soft  but  strong  embrace.  The  assassin  enters  through 
the  window,  already  prepared,  into  an  unoccupied  apartment. 
With  noiseless  foot  he  paces  the  lonely  hall,  half  lighted  by  the 
moon;  he  winds  up  the  ascent  of  the  stairs,  and  reaches  the  door 

308 


THE  LOST  ART  OF  ORATORY  309 

of  the  chamber.  .  .  .  The  face  of  the  innocent  sleeper  is 
turned  from  the  murderer,  and  the  beams  of  the  moon,  resting 
on  the  gray  locks  of  his  aged  temple,  show  him  where  to  strike. 
The  fatal  blow  is  given,  and  the  victim  passes,  without  a  struggle, 
from  the  repose  of  sleep  to  the  repose  of  death.  The  deed  is 
done.  He  retreats,  retraces  his  steps  to  the  window,  passes  out 
through  it  as  he  came  in,  and  escapes.  He  has  done  the  murder. 
No  eye  has  seen  him,  no  ear  has  heard  him.  The  secret  is  his 
own,  and  it  is  safe." 

The  speech  throughout  shows  Webster  to  have  been  the 
perfect  master  of  the  human  heart,  —  of  its  manifold  and 
mysterious  workings.  What  picture  could  be  more  vivid 
than  this? 

"  Such  a  secret  can  be  safe  nowhere.  The  whole  creation  of 
God  has  neither  nook  nor  corner  where  the  guilty  can  bestow  it 
and  say  it  is  safe.  Not  to  speak  of  that  eye  which  pierces  through 
all  disguises  and  beholds  everything  as  in  the  splendor  of  noon, 
such  secrets  of  guilt  are  never  safe  from  detection  even  by  men. 
True  it  is,  generally  speaking,  that  murder  will  out.  True  it 
is,  that  Providence  hath  so  ordained,  and  doth  so  govern  things, 
that  those  who  break  the  great  law  of  Heaven  by  shedding  man's 
blood  seldom  succeed  in  avoiding  discovery.  Meantime  the 
guilty  soul  cannot  keep  its  own  secret.  It  is  false  to  itself;  or 
rather,  it  feels  an  irresistible  impulse  of  conscience  to  be  true 
to  itself.  It  labors  under  its  guilty  possession,  and  knows  not 
what  to  do  with  it.  The  human  heart  was  not  made  for  the 
residence  of  such  an  inhabitant." 

The  closing  sentences  of  this  speech  —  which  resulted  in 
the  conviction  and  execution  of  the  prisoner  —  will  endure 
in  our  literature  unsurpassed  as  an  inspiration  to  duty: 

"  There  is  no  evil  that  we  cannot  either  face  or  fly  from  but 
the  consciousness  of  duty  disregarded.  A  sense  of  duty  pursues 
us  ever.  It  is  omnipresent  like  the  Deity.  If  we  take  to  our 
selves  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  sea,  duty  performed,  or  duty  violated,  is  still  with  us,  for 
our  happiness  or  our  misery.  If  we  say,  'The  darkness  shall  cover 
us,'  in  the  darkness  as  in  the  light  our  obligations  are  yet  with  us. 
We  cannot  escape  their  power,  nor  fly  from  their  presence. 
They  are  with  us  in  this  life,  will  be  with  us  at  its  close;  and  in 
that  scene  of  inconceivable  solemnity  which  lies  yet  farther 
onward,  we  shall  still  find  ourselves  surrounded  by  the  con 
sciousness  of  duty,  to  pain  us  wherever  it  has  been  violated, 


310  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  to  console  us  so  far  as  God  may  have  given  us  grace  to  per 
form  it." 

Upon  one  occasion,  when  in  Boston,  Mr.  Hubbard  and  I 
visited  together  Faneuil  Hall.  He  pointed  out  the  exact 
place  upon  the  platform  where  he  saw  Mr.  Webster  stand 
when  he  delivered  his  speech  in  vindication  of  his  course  in 
remaining  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Tyler  after  all  his  Whig 
colleagues  had  resigned.  The  schism  in  the  Whig  ranks, 
occasioned  by  the  veto  of  party  measures,  paramount  in 
the  Presidential  contest  of  1840,  and  the  bitter  antagonism 
thereby  engendered  between  Henry  Clay  and  President 
Tyler,  will  readily  be  recalled.  The  rupture  mentioned  oc 
casioned  the  retirement  of  the  entire  Cabinet  appointed  by 
the  late  President  Harrison,  except  Mr.  Webster,  the  Secre 
tary  of  State.  His  reasons  for  remaining  were  in  the  highest 
degree  patriotic,  and  his  speech  in  Faneuil  Hall  a  triumphant 
vindication.  The  enduring  public  service  he  rendered  while 
in  a  Cabinet  with  which  he  had  no  partisan  affiliation  was 
formulating,  in  conjunction  with  the  British  Minister,  the 
Ashburton  treaty.  If  Mr.  Webster  had  rendered  no  other 
public  service,  this  alone  would  have  entitled  him  to  the 
gratitude  of  the  country.  This  treaty,  advantageous  from 
so  many  points  of  view  to  the  United  States,  adjusted  ami 
cably  the  protracted  and  perilous  controversy  —  unsettled  by 
the  convention  at  Ghent  —  of  our  northeastern  boundary, 
and  possibly  prevented  a  third  war  between  the  two  great 
English-speaking  nations.  The  words  once  uttered  of  Burke 
could  never  with  truth  be  spoken  of  Webster:  "He  gave  to 
party  that  which  was  intended  for  his  country." 

Mr.  Hubbard  insisted  that  the  speech  mentioned  stood 
unrivalled  in  the  realm  of  sublime  oratory.  He  declared  that 
the  intervening  years  had  not  dimmed  his  recollection  of  the 
appearance  of  "the  God-like  Webster"  when  he  exclaimed: 
"The  Whig  party  die!  The  Whig  party  die!  Then,  Mr. 
President,  where  shall  I  go?" 

Some  years  before,  I  heard  Wendell  Phillips  allude  to  the 
above  speech  in  his  celebrated  lecture  upon  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell.  He  said,  when  the  startling  words,  "Then,  Mr.  Presi- 


THE  LOST  ART  OF  ORATORY  311 

dent,  where  shall  I  go?  "  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  mighty  orator, 
a  feeling  of  awe  pervaded  the  vast  assemblage;  something 
akin  to  an  awful  foreboding  that  the  world  would  surely  come 
to  an  end  when  there  was  no  place  in  it  for  Daniel  Webster. 

This  seems  a  fitting  place  to  allude  to  possibly  the  high 
est  tribute  ever  paid  by  one  great  orator  to  another  —  in 
the  loftiest  sense,  a  tribute  of  genius  to  genius.  Mr.  Hub- 
bard  told  me  he  was  one  of  the  immense  audience  gathered 
in  Faneuil  Hall  to  ratify  the  nomination  of  Harrison  and 
Tyler  soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Whig  National  Con 
vention  in  1840.  Edward  Everett  presided;  and  among  the 
speakers  were  Winthrop,  Choate,  Webster,  and  the  gifted 
Sargent  S.  Prentiss  of  Mississippi.  The  eloquence  of  the  last 
named  was  a  proverb  in  his  day.  He  had  but  recently  de 
livered  a  speech  in  the  House,  vindicating  his  right  to  his 
seat  as  a  Representative  from  Mississippi,  which  cast  a  spell 
over  all  who  heard  it,  and  which  has  come  down  to  the  pres 
ent  generation  as  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  oratory.  The 
closing  sentence  of  this  wondrous  speech  —  a  thousand  times 
quoted  —  was:  "  Deny  her  representation  upon  this  floor; 
then,  Mr.  Speaker,  strike  from  yonder  escutcheon  the  star 
that  glitters  to  the  name  of  Mississippi  —  and  leave  only 
the  stripe,  fit  emblem  of  her  degradation!" 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  Prentiss's  Faneuil  Hall  speech, 
just  mentioned,  amidst  a  tumult  of  applause  such  as  even 
Faneuil  Hall  had  rarely  witnessed,  Mr.  Everett,  turning  to 
Mr.  Webster,  inquired:  "  Did  you  ever  hear  the  equal  of 
that  speech?"  " Never  but  once,"  was  the  deep- toned 
reply,  "  and  then  from  Prentiss  himself." 

Judge  Baldwin,  his  long-time  associate  at  the  bar  of 
Mississippi,  has  given  a  vivid  description  of  the  effect  of  the 
power  of  Mr.  Prentiss  before  the  jury  in  the  prosecution  of 
a  noted  highwayman  and  murderer  in  that  State : 

"  Phelps  was  one  of  the  most  daring  and  desperate  of  ruffians. 
He  fronted  his  prosecutor  and  the  court  not  only  with  composure, 
but  with  scornful  and  malignant  defiance.  When  Prentiss  arose 
to  speak,  and  for  some  time  afterwards,  the  criminal  scowled 
upon  him  a  look  of  hate  and  insolence.  But  when  the  orator, 


312  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

kindling  with  his  subject,  turned  upon  him  and  poured  down  a 
stream  of  burning  invective  like  lava  upon  his  head;  when  he 
depicted  the  villainy  and  barbarity  of  his  bold  atrocities;  when 
he  pictured,  in  dark  and  dismal  colors,  the  fate  which  awaited 
him,  and  the  awful  judgment  to  be  pronounced  at  another  Bar 
upon  his  crimes  when  he  should  be  confronted  with  his  innocent 
victims;  when  he  fixed  his  gaze  of  concentrated  power  upon 
him,  the  strong  man's  face  relaxed;  his  eyes  faltered  and  fell; 
until,  at  length,  unable  to  bear  up  under  self-conviction,  he  hid 
his  head  beneath  the  bar,  and  exhibited  a  picture  of  ruffianly 
audacity  cowed  beneath  the  spell  of  true  courage  and  triumphant 
genius." 

In  his  early  practice  in  Mississippi,  in  closing  a  touching 
and  eloquent  appeal  to  the  jury  on  behalf  of  a  client  whose 
life  was  trembling  in  the  balance,  Prentiss  said  : 

"  I  have  somewhere  read  that  when  God  in  His  eternal  coun 
cils  conceived  the  thought  of  man's  creation,  he  called  to  him 
the  three  ministers  who  wait  constantly  upon  the  throne,  Justice, 
Truth,  and  Mercy,  and  thus  addressed  them: 

" '  Shall  we  make  man?' 

"  Then  said  Justice, '  O  God,  make  him  not,  for  he  will  trample 
upon  Thy  laws.' 

"  Truth  made  answer  also, '  0  God,  make  him  not,  for  he  will 
pollute  Thy  sanctuaries/ 

"Then  Mercy,  dropping  upon  her  knees  and  looking  up 
through  her  tears,  exclaimed  '  O  God,  make  him.  I  will  watch 
over  him  through  all  the  dark  paths  he  may  have  to  tread.' 

"  Then  God  made  man  and  said  to  him":  'Thou  art  the  child 
of  Mercy;  go  and  deal  in  mercy  with  thy  brother. ' '' 

In  speaking  of  Mr.  Webster's  marvellous  power  over  a 
jury,  Mr.  Hubbard  told  me  that  he  was  present  during  the 
trial  of  a  once  celebrated  divorce  case  in  one  of  the  courts  of 
Boston.  The  husband  was  the  complainant,  and  the  alleged 
ground  the  one  of  recognized  sufficiency  in  all  countries. 
Mr.  Webster  was  the  counsel  for  the  husband;  Rufus  Choate 
for  the  wife.  As  an  advocate,  the  latter  has  had  few  equals, 
no  superiors,  at  the  American  bar.  In  the  case  mentioned, 
with  a  distressed  woman  for  a  client,  what  was  dearer  than 
life,  her  reputation,  in  the  balance,  it  may  well  be  believed 
that  the  wondrous  powers  of  the  advocate  were  in  requisition 
to  the  utmost. 


RUFUS  CHOATE 


ISAAC  N.  PHILLIPS 


THE  LOST  ART  OF  ORATORY  313 

At  the  conclusion  of  Choate's  speech,  as  Mr.  Hubbard 
assured  me,  the  case  of  the  injured  husband  appeared  hope 
less.  It  seemed  impossible  that  such  a  speech  could  be  success 
fully  answered. 

The  opening  sentence,  in  deep  and  measured  tones,  of 
Webster  in  reply,  the  prelude  to  an  unrivalled  argument 
and  to  victory,  was: 

"  Saint  Paul  in  the  twenty-fourth  verse  of  the  seventh  chap 
ter  of  his  wondrous  Epistle  to  the  Romans  says:  '  O  wretched 
man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  mer  from  the  body  of  this 
death?'  You  alone,  gentlemen,  can  deliver  this  wretched  man 
from  the  body  of  this  dead  woman!" 

What  in  word-painting  can  exceed  the  following  from  an 
address  by  Robert  G.  Ingersoll? 

"  A  little  while  ago,  I  stood  by  the  grave  of  the  old  Napo 
leon  —  a  magnificent  tomb  of  gilt  and  gold,  almost  fit  for  a 
dead  deity  —  and  gazed  upon  the  sarcophagus  of  black  Egyp 
tian  marble,  where  rest  the  ashes  of  that  restless  man.  I  leaned 
over  the  balustrade  and  thought  about  the  career  of  the  great 
est  soldier  of  the  modern  world. 

"I  saw  him  walking  upon  the  banks  of  the  Seine  contem 
plating  suicide.  I  saw  him  at  Toulon;  I  saw  him  putting  down 
the  mob  in  the  streets  of  Paris;  I  saw  him  at  the  head  of  the  army 
in  Italy;  I  saw  him  crossing  the  bridge  of  Lodi  with  the  tri 
color  in  his  hand;  I  saw  him  in  Egypt  in  the  shadow  of  the 
Pyramids;  I  saw  him  conquer  the  Alps  and  mingle  the  eagles 
of  France  with  the  eagles  of  the  crags;  I  saw  him  at  Marengo, 
at  Ulm,  and  Austerlitz;  I  saw  him  in  Russia,  where  the  infantry 
of  the  snow  and  the  cavalry  of  the  wild  blast  scattered  his 
legions  like  winter's  withered  leaves;  I  saw  him  at  Leipsic  in 
defeat  and  disaster  —  driven  by  a  million  bayonets  back  upon 
Paris  —  clutched  like  a  wild  beast  —  banished  to  Elba.  I  saw 
him  escape  and  retake  an  empire  by  the  force  of  his  genius. 
I  saw  him  upon  the  frightful  field  of  Waterloo,  where  Chance 
and  Fortune  combined  to  wreck  the  fortunes  of  their  former 
king,  and  I  saw  him  at  St.  Helena,  with  his  hands  crossed  behind 
him,  gazing  out  upon  the  sad  and  solemn  sea. 

"  I  thought  of  the  orphans  and  widows  he  had  made,  of  the 
tears  that  had  been  shed  for  his  glory,  and  of  the  only  woman 
who  ever  loved  him,  pushed  from  his  heart  by  the  cold  hand  of 
ambition;  and  I  said  I  would  rather  have  been  a  French  peas 
ant  and  worn  wooden  shoes;  I  would  rather  have  lived  in  a  hut 
with  a  vine  growing  over  the  door,  and  the  grapes  growing 


314  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

purple  in  the  rays  of  the  autumn  sun;  I  would  rather  have  been 
that  poor  peasant  with  my  loving  wife  by  my  side,  knitting  as 
the  day  died  out  of  the  sky,  with  my  children  about  my  knee 
and  their  arms  about  me;  I  would  rather  have  been  that  man  and 
gone  down  to  the  tongueless  silence  of  the  dreamless  dust,  than 
have  been  that  imperial  impersonation  of  force  and  murder." 

In  his  eloquent  eulogy  upon  Abraham  Lincoln,  my 
neighbor  and  friend,  Hon.  Isaac  N.  Phillips,  said: 

"  He  lived  with  Nature  and  learned  of  her.  He  toiled,  but 
his  toil  was  never  hopeless  and  degrading.  His  feet  were  upon 
the  earth  but  the  stars  shining  in  perennial  beauty  were  ever 
above  him  to  inspire  contemplation.  He  heard  the  song  of  the 
thrush,  and  the  carol  of  the  lark.  He  watched  the  sun  in  its 
course.  He  knew  the  dim  paths  of  the  forest,  and  his  soul  was 
awed  by  the  power  of  the  storm." 

The  closing  sentences  of  Senator  Ingalls's  tribute  to  a 
departed  colleague  were  sombre  indeed: 

"In  the  democracy  of  Death  all  men  are  equal.  There  is 
neither  rank,  nor  station,  nor  prerogative,  in  the  republic  of  the 
grave.  At  that  fatal  threshold  the  philosopher  ceases  to  be  wise, 
and  the  song  of  the  poet  is  silent.  There  Dives  relinquishes  his 
riches  and  Lazarus  his  rags;  the  creditor  loses  his  usury,  and 
the  debtor  is  acquitted  of  his  obligation;  the  proud  man  sur 
renders  his  dignity,  the  politician  his  honors,  the  worldling  his 
pleasures.  Here  the  invalid  needs  no  physician,  and  the  laborer 
rests  from  unrequited  toil.  Here  at  last  is  Nature's  final  decree 
of  equity.  The  wrongs  of  time  are  redressed,  and  injustice  is 
expiated.  The  unequal  distribution  of  wealth  and  honor, 
capacity,  pleasure,  and  opportunity,  which  makes  life  so  cruel 
and  inexplicable  a  tragedy,  ceases  in  the  realms  of  Death. 
The  strongest  has  there  no  supremacy,  and  the  weakest  needs  no 
defence.  The  mightiest  captain  succumbs  to  the  invincible 
adversary  who  disarms  alike  the  victor  and  the  vanquished." 

In  his  day  Edward  Everett  was  the  most  gifted  of  Ameri 
can  orators.  His  style,  however,  to  readers  in  "  these  piping 
times  of  peace,"  seems  a  trifle  stilted.  What  orator  of  the 
twentieth  century  would  attempt  such  a  sentence  as  the 
following  from  Everett's  celebrated  eulogy  upon  Washington: 

"Let  us  make  a  national  festival  and  holiday  of  his  birth 
day;  and  ever,  as  the  twenty-second  of  February  returns,  let  us 
remember  that,  while  with  these  solemn  and  joyous  rites  of 
observance  we  celebrate  the  great  anniversary,  our  fellow-citizens 


THE  LOST  ART  OP  ORATORY  315 

on  the  Hudson,  on  the  Potomac,  from  the  Southern  plains  to  the 
Western  lakes,  are  engaged  in  the  same  offices  of  gratitude  and 
love.  Nor  we,  nor  they  alone;  beyond  the  Ohio,  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  along  that  stupendous  trail  of  immigration  from  the 
East  to  the  West,  which,  bursting  into  States  as  it  moves  west 
ward,  is  already  threading  the  Western  prairies,  swarming  through 
the  portals  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  winding  down  their 
slopes,  the  name  and  the  memory  of  Washington  on  that  gracious 
night  will  travel  with  the  silver  queen  of  heaven  through  sixty 
degrees  of  longitude,  nor  part  company  with  her  till  she  walks 
in  her  brightness  through  the  Golden  Gate  of  California,  and 
passes  serenely  on  to  hold  midnight  court  with  her  Australian 
stars.  There  and  there  only  in  barbarous  archipelagos,  as  yet 
untrodden  by  civilized  man,  the  name  of  Washington  is  un 
known;  and  there,  too,  when  they  swarm  with  enlightened  mil 
lions,  new  honors  shall  be  paid  with  ours  to  his  memory." 

In  my  judgment  the  greatest  living  orator  is  William  J. 
Bryan.  I  have  never  known  a  more  gifted  man.  A  thor 
ough  scholar  —  having  like  Lord  Bacon  taken  all  knowledge 
for  his  province  —  a  fearless  champion  of  what  he  deems  the 
right,  he  is  in  the  loftiest  sense  "  without  fear  and  without 
reproach." 

In  introducing  him  to  an  immense  audience  in  Blooming- 
ton  when  he  was  first  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  I  said: 

"The  National  Democracy  in  the  Chicago  convention  se 
lected  for  the  Presidency  a  distinguished  statesman  of  the  great 
Northwest.  For  the  first  time  in  more  than  one  hundred  years 
of  our  history,  a  candidate  for  the  great  office  has  been  taken 
from  a  State  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

"  In  the  nomination  of  our  standard-bearer,  the  convention 
builded  better  than  it  knew.  Each  passing  hour  has  but  em 
phasized  the  wisdom  of  its  choice.  Truly  it  has  been  said: 
'When  the  times  demand  the  man,  the  man  appears.'  The 
times  demanded  a  great  leader  —  the  great  leader  has  appeared! 
His  campaign  is  the  marvel  of  the  age.  From  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  two  thousand  miles  to  the  westward,  his  eloquent 
words  have  cheered  the  despondent,  given  new  hopes  and 
aspirations  to  the  people,  touched  the  hearts  of  millions  of  his 
countrymen.  In  advocating  his  election  we  have  kept  the  faith. 
We  have  not  departed  from  the  teachings  of  the  fathers.  We 
sacredly  preserve  the  ancient  landmarks  —  the  landmarks  of 
all  previous  Democratic  conventions." 

Rarely  has  a  speech  been  uttered  so  effective  in  its  imme- 


316  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

diate  result  as  that  of  Mr.  Bryan  in  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1896.  The  occasion  was  one  never  to  be  for 
gotten.  When  Mr.  Bryan  began  his  speech  he  had  not  been 
mentioned  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency;  at  its  close 
there  was  no  other  candidate.  The  closing  sentences  of  the 
memorable  speech  were: 

"  Our  ancestors,  when  but  three  millions  in  number,  had  the 
courage  to  declare  their  political  independence  of  every  other 
nation;  shall  we,  their  descendants,  when  we  have  grown  to 
seventy  millions,  declare  that  we  are  less  independent  than  our 
forefathers?  No,  my  friends,  that  will  never  be  the  verdict  of 
pur  people.  Therefore,  we  care  not  upon  what  lines  the  battle 
is  fought.  If  they  say  bimetallism  is  good,  but  that  we  cannot 
have  it  until  other  nations  help  us,  we  reply  that,  instead  of 
having  a  gold  standard  because  England  has,  we  will  restore 
bimetallism,  and  then  let  England  have  bimetallism  because 
the  United  States  has  it.  If  they  dare  to  come  out  in  the  open 
field  and  defend  the  gold  standard  as  a  good  thing,  we  will  fight 
them  to  the  uttermost.  Having  behind  us  the  producing 
masses  of  this  nation  and  the  world,  supported  by  the  commercial 
interests,  the  laboring  interests,  and  the  toilers  everywhere,  we 
will  answer  their  demand  for  a  gold  standard  by  saying  to  them : 
*  You  shall  not  press  down  upon  the  brow  of  labor  this  crown  of 
thorns,  you  shall  not  crucify  mankind  upon  a  cross  of  gold.'0 

The  closing  sentences  of  his  "  Prince  of  Peace "  have  been 
read  in  all  languages: 

"  But  this  Prince  of  Peace  promises  not  only  peace  but  strength. 
Some  have  thought  His  teachings  fit  only  for  the  weak  and  the 
timid  and  unsuited  to  men  of  vigor,  energy,  and  ambition. 
Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  Only  the  man  of 
faith  can  be  courageous.  Confident  that  he  fights  on  the  side 
of  Jehovah,  he  doubts  not  the  success  of  his  cause.  What  mat 
ters  it  whether  he  shares  in  the  shouts  of  triumph?  If  every 
word  spoken  in  behalf  of  truth  has  its  influence  and  every  deed 
done  for  the  right  weighs  in  the  final  account,  it  is  immaterial  to 
the  Christian  whether  his  eyes  behold  victory  or  whether  he  dies 
in  the  midst  of  the  conflict. 

'  Yea,  though  thou  lie  upon  the  dust, 

When  they  who  helped  thee  flee  in  fear, 
Die  full  of  hope  and  manly  trust, 

Like  those  who  fell  in  battle  here. 
Another  hand  thy  sword  shall  wield, 
Another  hand  the  standard  wave, 


WILLIAM    JENNINGS   BRYAN 


W.  H.  MILBURN 


THE  LOST  ART  OF  ORATORY  317 

Till  from  the  trumpet's  mouth  is  pealed 
The  blast  of  triumph  o'er  thy  grave/ 

"  Only  those  who  believe  attempt  the  seemingly  impossible 
and,  by  attempting,  prove  that  one  with  God  can  chase  a  thou 
sand  and  two  can  put  ten  thousand  to  flight.  I  can  imagine  that 
the  early  Christians  who  were  carried  into  the  arena  to  make  a 
spectacle  for  those  more  savage  than  the  beasts,  were  entreated 
by  their  doubting  companions  not  to  endanger  their  lives.  But, 
kneeling  in  the  centre  of  the  arena,  they  prayed  and  sang  until 
they  were  devoured.  How  helpless  they  seemed  and,  measured 
by  every  human  rule,  how  hopeless  was  their  cause!  And  yet 
within  a  few  decades  the  power  which  they  invoked  proved 
mightier  than  the  legions  of  the  emperor,  and  the  faith  in  which 
they  died  was  triumphant  o'er  all  that  land.  It  is  said  that 
those  who  went  to  mock  at  their  sufferings  returned  asking  them 
selves,  '  What  is  it  that  can  enter  into  the  heart  of  man  and  make 
him  die  as  these  die?'  They  were  greater  conquerors  in  their 
death  than  they  could  have  been  had  they  purchased  life  by  a 
surrender  of  their  faith. 

"  What  would  have  been  the  fate  of  the  Church  if  the  early 
Christians  had  had  as  little  faith  as  many  of  our  Christians  now 
have?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  Christians  of  to-day  had 
the  faith  of  the  martyrs,  how  long  would  it  be  before  the  ful 
filment  of  the  prophecy  that  every  knee  shall  bow  and  every 
tongue  confess? 

"  Our  faith  should  be  even  stronger  than  the  faith  of  those 
who  lived  two  thousand  years  ago,  for  we  see  our  religion  spread 
ing  and  supplanting  the  philosophies  and  creeds  of  the  Orient. 

44  As  the  Christian  grows  older  he  appreciates  more  and  more 
the  completeness  with  which  Christ  fills  the  requirements  of 
the  heart  and,  grateful  for  the  peace  which  he  enjoys  and  for  the 
strength  which  he  has  received,  he  repeats  the  words  of  the 
great  scholar,  Sir  William  Jones: 

'  Before  thy  mystic  altar,  heavenly  truth, 
I  kneel  in  manhood,  as  I  knelt  in  youth. 
Thus  let  me  kneel,  till  this  dull  form  decay, 
And  life's  last  shade  be  brightened  by  thy  ray.'" 


XXX 

THE   COLONELS 

A   CONVIVIAL  MEETING   OF   LAWYERS  —  HILARITY   SMOTHERED 

BY  THE  MAINE  LAW A  FAINTING  WAYFARER  IS  REFUSED 

A  DRINK  IN  A  MAINE  VILLAGE THE  APOTHECARY  DEMANDS 

A    PHYSICIAN'S    PRESCRIPTION  —  SNAKE-BITES    IN    GREAT 

DEMAND. 

SOME  years  ago,  I  spent  a  few  weeks  of  inclement  winter 
in  a  beautiful  village  in  southern  Georgia.  Upon  call 
ing  at  his  office  to  renew  my  acquaintance  with  a  well- 
known  lawyer,  he  soon  invited  in  the  remaining  members 
of  the  local  bar.  Everything  was  propitious,  and  the  con 
versation  never  for  a  moment  flagged,  many  experiences 
of  the  legal  practitioners  of  the  South  and  of  the  North  be 
ing  related  with  happy  effect. 

I  at  length  remarked  that  since  my  arrival,  I  had,  some 
what  to  my  surprise,  learned  that  "  local  option  "  had  been 
adopted  in  their  county.  An  aged  brother,  in  a  tone  by  no 
means  exultant,  assured  me  that  such  was  the  fact.  I  then 
observed  that  I  was  not  a  hard  drinker,  but  being  a  total 
stranger  and  liable  to  sudden  sickness,  I  asked  what  I  would 
do  under  such  circumstances. 

An  equally  venerable  brother,  who  bore  the  unique  title 
of  "  Colonel,"  slowly  responded,  "  Have  to  do  without,  sir; 
have  to  do  without;  not  a  drop  to  be  had  in  the  county, 
absolutely  not  a  drop,  sir." 

The  brief  silence  which  followed  this  announcement  was 
broken  by  the  corroborative  testimony  of  a  more  youthful 
associate  of  similar  official  distinction,  and  a  genial  and  hos 
pitable  expression  of  countenance,  somehow  suggesting  mem 
ories  of  old  cognac. 

"  Yes,  sir,  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors  is  now  only  a 
tradition  with  us;  but  I  have  heard  my  father  say,  that 

318 


THE  COLONELS  319 

before  the  war,  the  indulgence  in  such  hospitality  was  not 
uncommon  among  gentlemen." 

At  the  conclusion  of  still  further  cumulative  testimony 
of  the  same  tenor,  I  remarked  that  something  about  the 
general  situation  reminded  me  of  an  incident  that  occurred 
in  a  State  far  to  the  north  while  the  "  Maine  Law  "  was  in 
operation. 

A  dilapidated-looking  pedestrian,  with  a  pack  on  his  back, 
early  one  afternoon  of  a  hot  July  day  pulled  up  in  front 
of  the  post-office  in  a  small  village  in  the  interior  of  Maine. 
Humbly  addressing  a  citizen  who  was  just  coming  out  with 
his  copy  of  the  Weekly  Tribune  in  hand,  he  inquired, 

"  Where  can  I  get  a  drink?  " 

"The  Maine  Law  is  in  force/'  was  the  reply,  "and  it  is 
impossible  for  you  to  get  a  drink  in  the  State." 

The  heart  of  the  wayfarer  sank  within  him. 

"Would  you  let  a  man  die  right  here  on  your  streets, 
for  lack  of  a  drink?  " 

The  "  better  angel "  of  the  citizen  being  touched  thereat, 
he  replied, 

"  My  friend,  I  am  very  sorry  for  you,  but  no  liquor  is 
ever  sold  here,  except  by  the  apothecary,  and  then  only  as 
a  medicine." 

Upon  further  inquiry,  the  important  fact  was  disclosed 
that  the  shop  of  the  apothecary  was  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
away,  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  road.  With  an  alacrity 
indicating  something  of  hope,  the  pedestrian  immediately 
gathered  up  his  pack,  and  through  the  dust  and  heat  at  length 
reached  the  designated  place.  Sinking  apparently  exhausted 
upon  the  door-step,  he  feebly  requested  the  man  behind 
the  counter  to  let  him  have  something  to  drink.  The  im 
mediate  reply  of  the  apothecary  was  that  the  Maine  Law 
was  in  force,  and  no  spirituous  liquors  could  be  sold  except 
upon  the  prescription  of  a  physician.  After  earnest  inquiry, 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  nearest  doctor's  office  was  one 
mile  away,  and  the  man  with  the  pack  again  betook  him 
self  to  the  weary  highway.  Returning  an  hour  later,  in  tone 
more  pitiful  that  before,  he  begged  the  apothecary,  as  he 


320  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

hoped  for  mercy  himself,  to  let  him  have  a  drink.  Upon 
inquiry  as  to  whether  he  had  procured  the  required  certifi 
cate,  he  said,  "No,  the  doctor  wouldn't  give  me  any." 

The  assurance  of  the  apothecary  that  the  case  appeared 
hopeless  only  added  to  the  distress  of  the  poor  man,  whose 
sands  seemed  now  indeed  to  be  running  low. 

Stirred  to  the  depths  by  the  agony  of  his  visitor,  the 
apothecary  at  length  said, 

"  My  friend,  I  would  be  glad  to  help  you,  but  it  is  impos 
sible  for  me  to  let  you  have  a  drink  of  spirituous  liquor  unless 
you  have  a  doctor's  certificate  or  have  been  snake-bit." 

At  the  last-mentioned  suggestion,  the  face  of  the  man 
of  repeated  disappointments  measurably  brightened,  and 
he  eagerly  inquired  where  he  could  find  a  snake.  The  now 
sympathetic  man  of  bottles  told  him  to  follow  the  main 
road  three  miles  to  the  forks,  and  then  a  few  hundred  yards 
to  the  west,  and  he  would  find  a  small  grove  of  decayed  trees, 
where  there  still  lingered  a  few  snakes,  and  by  the  exercise 
of  a  reasonable  degree  of  diligence  he  might  manage  to  get 
bit,  and  thereby  lay  the  foundation  for  the  desired  relief. 
With  bundle  again  in  place,  and  evincing  a  buoyancy  of 
manner  to  which  he  had  been  a  stranger  for  many  hours, 
the  traveller  resumed  the  quest. 

Hours  later,  when  the  shadows  had  lengthened,  and  the 
fire-flies  were  glistening  in  the  distance, 

"  With  a  look  so  piteous  in  purport, 
As  if  he  had  been  loosed  out  of  hell 
To  speak  of  horrors," 

he  reentered  the  apothecary's  shop,  threw  down  his  bundle, 
and  in  tones  suggestive  of  the  agony  of  lost  souls,  again 
begged  for  a  drink. 

11  Did  you  get  snake-bit?  "  was  the  feeling  inquiry  of  the 
man  at  the  helm. 

"  No,"  was  the  heart-rending  reply,  "every  snake  I  met 
had  engagements  six  months  ahead,  for  all  the  bites  he  could 
furnish!" 


XXXI 
REMINISCENCES 

A  BARBECUE  AT  THE  BLUE  SPRING,  KY. —  NOTABLE  NATIVES  OP 
THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  —  THE  SCHOOLHOUSE  CHURCH  —  SOME 
OF  THE  PREACHERS  —  THE  TEACHER  OF  SINGING  —  HOW  THE 
SCHOOLMASTER  WAS  PAID  —  MANNERS  AND  DISCIPLINE  —  THE 
DEBATING  SOCIETY  —  THE  WRITER'S  SPEECH  TO  HIS  OLD 
NEIGHBORS  —  SOME  BOYHOOD  FRIENDS. 

SOON   after    my   nomination   for   the   Vice-Presidency, 
in  1892,  I  attended  a  barbecue  at  the  Blue  Spring,  a 
stone's  throw  from  my  father's  old  home  in  Kentucky. 
This  was  in  the  county  of  Christian,  in  the  southwestern  part 
of  the  State.    It  is  a  large  and  wealthy  county,  its  tobacco 
product  probably  exceeding   that  of  any  other  county  in 
the  United  States. 

Christian  County  was  the  early  home  of  men  distinguished 
in  the  field,  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  State  and  National  coun 
cils.  Hopkinsville,  the  county-seat,  had  been  the  home  of 
Stites,  the  learned  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals;  of 
Jackson,  who  fell  while  gallantly  leading  his  command  at  the 
battle  of  Perry ville;  of  Morehead,  an  early  and  distinguished 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth;  of  Sharp,  whose  legal  acu 
men  would  have  secured  him  distinction  at  any  bar;  of 
McKenzie,  whose  wit  and  eloquence  made  him  the  long 
time  idol  and  the  Representative  in  Congress,  of  the  famed 
"Pennyrile"  district;  of  Bristow,  the  accomplished  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  during  the  administration  of  Presi 
dent  Grant;  of  the  Henry  brothers,  three  of  whom,  from 
different  States,  were  at  a  later  day  Representatives  in 
Congress,  and  one  the  Whig  candidate  against  Andrew 
Johnson  for  Governor  of  Tennessee. 

Hon.  Gustavus  A.  Henry,  well  known  as  the  "Eagle 
Orator  of  Tennessee,"  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Governor 
of  the  State  in  opposition  to  Andrew  Johnson,  at  a  later  day 

321 


322  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

President  of  the  United  States.  The  latter  was  at  the  time 
an  old-fashioned,  steady-going  mountain  orator  with  none 
of  the  brilliancy  of  his  gifted  antagonist.  At  the  close  of  a 
series  of  joint  debates  Johnson  said:  "This  speech  terminates 
our  joint  debates.  I  have  now  encountered  the  '  Eagle 
Orator '  upon  every  stump  in  the  State,  and  come  out  of  the 
contest  with  no  flesh  of  mine  in  his  claws  —  no  blood  of 
mine  upon  his  beak."  To  which  Henry  instantly  replied: 
"The  eagle  —  the  proud  bird  of  freedom  —  never  wars  upon 
a  corpse!" 

A  few  miles  from  the  Blue  Spring,  in  the  same  county, 
were  the  early  homes  of  Senator  Roger  Q.  Mills  of  Texas, 
Governor  John  M.  Palmer  of  Illinois,  and  Jefferson  Davis 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Less  than  a  score  of  miles 
to  the  southward,  upon  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland  in 
Tennessee,  stood  historic  Fort  Donelson;  while  a  few  hours' 
journey  to  the  northward  stands  the  monument  which 
marks  the  birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Following  the  earliest  westward  trail  from  Iredell  County, 
North  Carolina,  across  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  for  a  great 
distance  along  the  banks  of  the  romantic  French  Broad  my 
grandfathers,  "Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,"  James  Stevenson 
and  Adlai  Ewing,  with  their  immediate  families  and  others 
of  their  kindred,  had  hi  the  early  days  of  the  century,  after 
a  long  and  perilous  journey,  finally  reached  the  famous  Spring 
already  mentioned.  Near  by,  their  tents  were  pitched,  and 
in  time  permanent  homes  established  in  the  then  wilderness 
of  southwestern  Kentucky. 

The  first  public  building  constructed  was  of  logs,  with 
puncheon  floor,  and  set  apart  to  the  double  purpose  of  school- 
house  and  church  for  the  use  of  all  denominations.  Its  site 
was  near  the  spot  where  the  speaker's  stand  was  now  erected 
for  the  barbecue  which  I  have  mentioned. 

From  the  pulpit  of  this  rude  building,  the  early  settlers 
had  more  than  once  listened  spell-bound  to  the  eloquence 
of  Peter  Cartwright,  Henry  B.  Bascom,  Nathan  L.  Rice, 
Finis  Ewing,  and  Alexander  Campbell. 

In  this  old  church  the  time-honored  custom  was  for  some 


REMINISCENCES  323 

one  of  its  officers  to  line  out  the  hymn,  two  lines  at  a  time, 
and  then  lead  the  singing,  in  which  the  congregation  joined. 
Among  my  earliest  recollections  is  that  of  my  uncle,  Squire 
McKenzie,  one  of  the  best  of  men,  standing  immediately 
in  front  of  the  pulpit,  and  faithfully  discharging  this  im 
portant  duty  after  the  hymn  had  been  read  in  full  by 
the  minister.  I  distinctly  recall  the  solemn  tones  in  which, 
upon  communion  occasions,  he  lined  out,  in  measured  and 
mellow  cadence,  the  good  old  hymn  beginning: 

"  'T  was  on  that  dark,  that  doleful  night, 
When  powers  of  earth  and  hell  arose." 

Mr.  Sawyer,  too,  the  old-time  singing-school  teacher, 
has  honored  place  in  my  memory.  Once  a  month,  in  the 
old  church,  the  singing-school  class  of  which  we  were  all 
members  regularly  assembled.  The  school  was  in  four  di 
visions,  Bass,  Tenor,  Counter,  and  Treble;  each  member  was 
provided  with  a  copy  of  the  " Missouri  Harmony,"  with  "fa," 
"sol,"  "la,"  "mi,"  appearing  in  mysterious  characters  upon 
every  page:  the  master,  magnifying  his  office,  as  with  tuning- 
fork  in  hand  he  stood  proudly  in  the  midst,  raised  the  tune, 
and  as  it  progressed  smiled  or  deeply  frowned  upon  each  of 
the  divisions  as  occasion  seemed  to  require.  His  voice  has 
long  been  hushed,  but  I  seem  again  to  hear  his  cheery  com 
mand,  "Attention,  class!  Utopia,  page  one  hundred!" 

Looking  back  through  the  long  vista  of  years,  it  is  my 
honest  belief  that  such  singing  as  his,  at  home  or  abroad, 
I  have  never  heard.  Upon  his  tablet  might  appropriately 
have  been  inscribed: 

"  Sleep  undisturbed  within  this  sacred  shrine, 
Till  angels  wake  thee  with  notes  like  thine." 

To  this  old  field  school  came  in  the  early  times  the  "schol 
ars  "  for  many  miles  around.  It  was  in  very  truth  the  only 
Alma  Mater,  for  that  generation,  of  almost  the  entire  southern 
portion  of  the  county.  My  father  in  his  boyhood  attended 
this  school,  as  did  his  kinsmen,  John  W.  and  Fielding  N. 
Ewing;  the  last  named  of  whom  was,  at  a  much  later  period, 


324  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Bloomington, 
Illinois,  and  his  elder  brother  was  the  Mayor  of  that  city. 

At  that  early  day,  and  later  when  I  attended  the  same 
school,  there  were  no  salaries  provided  for  the  teachers.  The 
schoolmaster  visited  the  families  within  reasonable  distance 
of  the  schoolhouse  with  his  subscription  paper,  and  the 
school  was  duly  opened  when  a  sufficient  number  of  pupils 
had  subscribed. 

The  ways  of  the  old  field  school  and  the  methods  of  the 
old-time  teachers  belong  now  to  the  past.  Once  experienced, 
however,  they  have  an  abiding  place  in  the  memory.  The 
master,  upon  his  accustomed  perch  near  the  spacious  fire 
place,  with  his  ever-present  symbol  of  authority,  the  rod— 
which  even  Solomon  would  have  considered  fully  up  to  the 
orthodox  standard  —  in  alarming  proximity;  the  boys  " mak 
ing  their  manners"  by  scraping  the  right  foot  upon  the  floor 
and  bowing  low  as  they  entered  the  school-room;  the  girls 
upon  like  occasions  equally  faithful  in  the  practice  of  a  be 
witching  little  " curtsey"  which  only  added  to  their  charms; 
the  "  study  ing  aloud,"  the  hum  of  the  school-room  being  there 
by  easily  heard  a  mile  or  two  away;  the  timid  approach  to 
the  dreaded  master  with  the  humble  request  that  he  would 
"mend  a  pen,"  "parse  a  verb,"  or  "do  a  sum." 

An  hour,  called  recess,  was  given  for  the  dinner  from  the 
baskets  brought  from  home,  and  then  the  glorious  old  games, 
marbles,  town-ball,  and  "  bull  pen,"  to  the  heart's  content!  At 
the  sound  of  the  ominous  command,  "Books!"  each  scholar 
promptly  resumed  his  seat,  the  merry  shout  of  the  playground 
at  once  giving  way  to  the  serious  business  of  "saying  lessons." 
In  those  good  old  days,  the  slightest  act  of  omission  or  com 
mission  upon  the  part  of  the  pupil  was  confronted  with  a 
terrible  condition  instead  of  a  harmless  theory.  In  very 
truth  the  uncomfortable  effect  of  the  punishment  unfailingly 
administered —  "doing  his  duty  to  your  parents,"  as  the  petty 
school-room  tyrant  was  wont  to  observe  —  was  in  small 
degree  lessened  by  the  comforting  assurance  that  the  victim 
"would  thank  him  for  it  the  longest  day  he  lived!" 

Then,  to  crown  all,  came  the  debating  society,  with  the 


REMINISCENCES  325 

schoolmaster  presiding,  the  entire  neighborhood,  sweethearts 
and  all,  in  attendance,  and  the  boys  for  the  first  time  testing 
their  oratorical  powers.  Vigilant  preparations  having  been 
made  for  the  discussion  of  such  momentous  questions  as: 
"  Which  deserves  the  most  credit,  Columbus  for  dis 
covering  America,  or  Washington  for  defending  it?"  or 
"Which  brings  the  greater  happiness  to  mankind,  pursuit 
or  possession?" 

In  " Georgia  Scenes"  is  an  amusing  account  of  a  debate  in 
a  backwoods  " Academy"  nearly  a  century  ago.  The  two 
brightest  boys,  after  anxious  preparation,  succeeded  in  form 
ulating  for  debate  a  question  utterly  meaningless,  but  which 
appeared  upon  hurried  reading  to  touch  the  very  bed-rock 
of  human  government.  The  "  conspirators "  mentioned 
were  the  respective  leaders  in  the  debate  which  closed  the 
public  exercises  of  the  annual  "Exhibition"  of  the  Academy. 
The  leaders  had  made  careful  preparation  for  the  contest, 
and  appeared  fully  to  understand  the  question,  and  each  in 
turn  highly  complimented  the  able  argument  of  his  rival. 
Much  amusement  was  caused  by  the  remaining  speakers, 
when  called  in  order,  who  candidly  admitted  that  they  did  n't 
understand  the  question,  and  patiently  submitted  to  the 
fine  imposed  by  the  rules  of  the  Society.  That  a  boy  of  but 
mediocre  talents  should  have  failed  to  participate  in  the 
debate,  will  not  be  considered  remarkable  when  the  ques 
tion  is  stated:  " Whether,  in  public  elections,  the  vote  of 
faction  should  prevail  by  internal  suggestions,  or  the  bias  of 
jurisprudence?" 

The  late  General  Gordon  related  to  me  the  above  incident, 
and  added  that  the  leaders  mentioned  were  at  a  later  day 
well  known  to  the  country,  one  the  learned  Bishop  Longstreet 
of  Georgia,  the  other  the  eloquent  Senator  McDuffie  of  South 
Carolina. 

Events  almost  forgotten,  forms  long  since  vanished,  were 
vividly  recalled  as,  after  long  absence,  I  revisited  the  spot 
inseparably  blended  with  the  joyous  associations  of  child 
hood.  The  platform  from  which  I  was  to  speak  had  been 
erected  near  the  ruins  of  the  old  church  above  mentioned,  of 


326  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

which  my  grandfather  had  been  a  ruling  elder,  my  father, 
mother,  and  other  kindred  the  earliest  members. 

Upon  my  introduction  to  the  vast  assemblage  —  the  good 
things  suggested  by  " barbecue"  having  meanwhile  given  to 
all  an  abundant  feeling  of  contentment  —  I  began  by  brief 
reference  to  the  pleasure  I  experienced  in  again  visiting,  after 
the  passing  of  the  years  which  separated  childhood  from 
middle  age,  scenes  once  so  familiar,  and  meeting  face  to  face 
so  many  of  my  early  associates  and  friends,  and  remarked, 
that  in  the  early  days  in  Illinois  the  not  unusual  reply  of  the 
Kentucky  emigrant,  when  asked  what  part  of  the  Old  Com 
monwealth  he  came  from  was,  "From  the  Blue  Grass,"  or 
"From  near  Lexington,"  but  that  my  invariable  answer  to 
that  inquiry  had  ever  been,  "From  the  Pennyrile!" 

Some  mention  I  made  of  Mr.  Caskie,  the  dreaded  school 
master  of  the  long  ago,  caused  a  momentary  commotion  in 
the  audience,  and  immediately  a  man  of  white  hairs  and  bowed 
by  the  weight  of  more  than  fourscore  years,  was  lifted  to  the 
front  of  the  platform.  With  arm  about  my  neck,  he  earnestly 
inquired:  "Adlai,  I  came  twenty  miles  to  hear  you  speak; 
don't  you  remember  me?"  The  audience  apparently  appre 
ciated  the  instant  reply:  "Yes,  Mr.  Caskie,  /  still  have  a  few 
marks  left  to  remember  you  by! " 

The  venerable  and  long  ago  forgiven  schoolmaster  was 
fearfully  deaf,  and  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  a  single  word 
escaping  him,  he  stood  close  beside  me,  and  with  his  hand 
behind  his  ear  and  the  other  resting  tenderly  on  my  shoulder, 
faithfully  followed  me  in  my  journeyings  to  and  fro  across  the 
stage  during  the  two-hours'  speech  which  followed. 

My  speech  at  length  concluded,  I  was  warmly  greeted  by 
scores  of  old  neighbors  and  friends.  Just  forty  years  had 
passed  since  my  father  had  removed  his  family  to  Illinois, 
and  it  may  well  be  believed  that  it  was  difficult  to  recall 
promptly  all  the  names  and  faces  of  those  I  had  known  in 
childhood.  Even  a  candidate  has,  at  such  times,  "some 
rights  under  the  Constitution";  one  of  which,  I  honestly 
believe,  is  total  exemption  from  the  tormenting  inquiries: 
"Do  you  know  me?  Well,  what  is  my  name?"  The  laurels, 


REMINISCENCES  327 

even  of  Job,  had  he  ever  been  a  candidate,  would  probably 
have  turned  to  willows. 

I  am  here  reminded  of  an  experience  of  one  of  my  early 
competitors  for  Congress.  It  was  his  happy  forte  to  re 
member  instantly  all  his  old  acquaintances;  not  only  that, 
but  to  know  their  full  names.  To  call  out  in  friendly  and 
familiar  tone,  in  and  out  of  season,  "Bill,"  "Dick,"  "Sam," 
"Bob,"  a  hundred  times  a  day,  was  as  natural  to  him  as 
to  breathe. 

Upon  one  occasion,  however,  the  fates  seemed  slightly 
untoward.  At  the  close  of  one  of  our  joint  debates,  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  district,  he  was  greeted  by  a  demure- 
looking  individual  with  the  salutation,  "How  are  you, 
Judge? " 

"My  dear  sir,"  exclaimed  the  regular  candidate,  grasping 
the  interrogator  warmly  by  the  hand,  "how  are  you,  and 
how  is  the  old  lady?" 

"I  am  not  married,  Judge,"  was  the  deliberate  response, 
as  of  one  assuming  the  entire  responsibility. 

"Certainly  not,  certainly  not,  my  dear  sir;  I  meant  your 
mother.  How  is  that  excellent  old  lady?" 

"My  mother  has  been  dead  twenty  years,  Judge,"  was 
the  mournful  reply. 

A  trifle  embarrassed,  but  not  entirely  off  his  base,  the 
judge  looked  earnestly  into  the  face  of  the  bereaved,  and  said : 

"My  friend,  excuse  me,  your  countenance  is  perfectly 
familiar  to  me,  but  I  do  not  at  this  moment  remember  exactly 
who  you  are." 

The  response  was,  "Judge,  /  am  an  evangelist" 

To  which  the  candidate  for  Congress,  now  upon  a  firm 
footing,  tapped  the  man  of  the  sacred  office  familiarly  upon 
the  shoulder  and  cheerfully  exclaimed,  "Why,  damn  it,  Van, 
I  thought  I  ought  to  know  you!" 

Returning  now  for  brief  sojourn  to  the  afore-mentioned 
barbecue,  with  a  faithful  kinsman  as  monitor,  aided  by  a 
slight  moiety  of  tact  to  be  credited  to  personal  account,  I 
managed  passably  well  to  get  through  the  trying  ordeal. 
"The  old  gentleman  with  the  long  white  beard,  coming 


328  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

toward  us,"  observed  my  monitor,  "is  Uncle  Jake  Anderson. 
He  has  a  hat  bet  that  you  will  know  him."  Thus  advised, 
I  was  ready  for  trial,  and  warmly  grasping  the  hand  extended 
me,  I  earnestly  inquired,  " Uncle  Jake,  how  are  you?"  "Do 
you  know  me,  boy?"  was  his  immediate  response.  "Know 
you?"  I  replied.  "You  and  my  father  were  near  neighbors 
for  years;  how  could  I  help  knowing  you?  "  "Yes,  of  course," 
he  said,  "but  you  being  gone  so  long,  and  now  running  for 
President,  I  did  n't  know  but  what  you  had  forgotten  all 
about  the  old  neighbors  down  on  the  Lick."  Assuring  him 
that  I  had  forgotten  none  of  them,  and  congratulating  him 
upon  the  hat  he  had  won,  I  passed  on  to  the  next. 

The  interview  described  was  repeated  with  slight  varia 
tions,  many  times,  when  my  attendant  remarked : 

"That  man  leaning  against  the  tree  is  John  Dunloe;  do 
you  remember  him?" 

"Certainly,"  I  replied,   "I  went  to  school  with  him." 

Immediately  approaching  my  early  classmate  I  took  him 
by  the  hand  and  said,  "How  are  you,  John?" 

"Why,  Adlai,  do  you  know  me?"  was  the  prompt  response. 

"Know  you,"  said  I,  "didn't  we  go  to  school  together  to 
Mr.  Caskie  right  here  at  Blue  Water,  when  we  were  boys?" 

"Yas,  of  course  we  did,"  slowly  answered  my  sometime 
school-fellow,  "but  you  been  'sociatin'  with  them  big  fellows 
down  about  Washington  so  long,  that  I  did  n't  know  but  what 
you  had  forgot  us  poor  fellows  down  in  the  Penny  rile." 

Assuring  him  that  I  never  forgot  my  old  friends,  I  in 
quired,  "John,  where  is  your  brother  Bill?" 

"He's  here,"  was  the  instant  reply  "Me  and  Bill  started 
before  daylight  to  get  to  this  barbecue  in  time.  Bill  'lowed 
he'd  ruther  go  forty  miles  on  foot  to  hear  you  make  a  speech, 
than  go  to  a  hangin'." 


XXXII 
A   TRIBUTE   TO   IRELAND* 

THE  WRITER'S  VISIT  TO  NOTABLE  PLACES  IN  IRELAND  —  HIS 

TRIBUTE    OF  PRAISE   TO  HER    GREAT   MEN AMERICANS    OBLI 
GATION  TO  IRISH  SOLDIERS  AND  STATESMEN. 

1    ACCEPTED  with  pleasure  the  invitation  to  meet  with 
you.    For  the  courtesy  so  generously  extended  me  I  am 

profoundly  grateful. 

Within  late  years  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  visit  Ire 
land;  and  I  can  truly  say  that  no  country  in  Europe  possessed 
for  me  a  deeper  interest  than  the  little  island  about  whose 
name  clusters  so  much  of  romance  and  of  enchantment.  I 
saw  Ireland  in  its  beauty  and  in  its  gloom;  in  its  glory  and  in 
its  desolation.  I  stood  upon  the  Giant's  Causeway,  one  of 
the  grand  masterpieces  of  the  Almighty;  I  visited  the  his 
toric  parks  and  deserted  legislative  halls  of  venerated  Dublin; 
threaded  the  streets  and  byways  of  the  quaint  old  city  of  Cork ; 
listened  to  the  bells  of  Shandon;  sailed  over  the  beautiful 
lakes  of  Killarney,  and  gazed  upon  the  old  castles  of  Muckross 
and  of  Blarney,  whose  ivy-covered  ruins  tell  of  the  far-away 
centuries.  What  a  wonderful  island!  The  birthplace  of  wits, 
of  warriors,  of  statesmen,  of  poets,  and  of  orators.  Of  its 
people  it  has  been  truly  said:  "They  have  fought  success 
fully  the  battles  of  every  country  but  their  own." 

Upon  occasion  such  as  this,  the  Irishman  —  to  whatever 
spot  in  this  wide  world  he  may  have  wandered  —  lives  in  the 
shadow  of  the  past.  In  imagination  he  is  once  more  under 
the  ancestral  roof;  the  vine-clad  cottage  is  again  a  thing  of 
reality.  Again  he  wears  the  shamrock;  again  he  hears  the 
songs  of  his  native  land,  while  his  heart  is  stirred  by  memories 
of  her  wrongs  and  of  her  glory. 

What  a  splendid  contribution  Ireland  has  made  to  the 

*  Speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Stevenson  at  a  banquet  of  the  United  Irish 
Societies  of  Chicago,  September,  1900. 

329 


330  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

world's  galaxy  of  great  men!  In  the  realm  of  poetry,  Gold 
smith  and  Tom  Moore;  of  oratory,  Sheridan,  Emmett,  Grattan, 
O'Connell,  Burke,  and  in  later  years  Charles  Stewart  Parnell, 
whose  thrilling  words  I  heard  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  plead 
ing  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  countrymen. 

The  obligation  of  America  to  Ireland  for  men  who  have 
aided  in  fighting  her  battles  and  framing  her  laws  cannot  be 
measured  by  words.  In  the  British  possessions  to  the  north 
ward,  in  the  old  city  of  Quebec,  there  is  one  spot  dear  to  the 
American  heart  —  that  where  fell  the  brave  Montgomery, 
fighting  the  battles  of  his  adopted  country.  What  school 
boy  is  not  familiar  with  the  story  of  gallant  Phil  Sheridan 
and  "Winchester  twenty  miles  away"?  Illinoisans  will 
j^ever  forget  Shields,  the  hero  of  two  wars,  the  senator  from 
three  States.  It  was  an  Irish- American  poet  of  a  neighboring 
State  who  wrote  of  our  fallen  soldiers  words  that  will  live 
while  we  have  a  country  and  a  language : 

"  The  muffled  drum's  sad  roll  has  beat 

The  soldier's  last  tattoo; 
No  more  on  life's  parade  shall  meet 
That  brave  and  fallen  few." 

The  achievements  of  representatives  of  this  race  along 
every  pathway  of  useful  and  honorable  endeavor  are  a  part  of 
our  own  history.  We  honor  to-day  the  far-away  island,  the 
deeds  and  sacrifices  of  whose  sons  have  added  so  brilliant  a 
chapter  to  American  history.  From  the  assembling  of  the 
First  Continental  Congress  to  the  present  hour,  in  every 
legislative  hall  the  Irishman  has  been  a  factor.  His  bones 
have  whitened  every  American  battlefield  from  the  first  con 
flict  with  the  British  regulars  to  the  closing  hour  of  our  struggle 
with  Spain. 

The  love  of  liberty  is  deeply  ingrained  into  the  very  life 
of  the  Irishman.  The  history  of  his  country  is  that  of  a 
gallant  people  struggling  for  a  larger  measure  of  freedom. 
His  most  precious  heritage  is  the  record  of  his  countrymen, 
who  upon  the  battlefield  and  upon  the  scaffold  have  sealed 
their  devotion  to  liberty  with  their  blood.  With  such  men 
it  was  a  living  faith  that  — 


A  TRIBUTE  TO    IRELAND  331 

"  Whether  on  the  scaffold  high 

Or  in  the  battle's  van 
The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man." 

With  a  history  reaching  into  the  far  past,  every  page  of 
which  tells  of  the  struggle  for  liberty,  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  sympathies  of  the  Irishman  are  with  the  oppressed  every 
where  on  God's  footstool.  Irishmen,  hi  common  with  liberty- 
loving  men  everywhere,  looked  with  abhorrence  upon  the 
attempt  of  a  great  European  power  to  establish  monarchy 
upon  the  ruins  of  republics. 

May  we  not  confidently  abide  in  the  hope  that  brighter 
days  are  in  waiting  for  the  beautiful  island  and  her  gallant 
people?  I  close  with  the  words;  "God  bless  old  Ireland!" 


XXXIII 
THE    BLIND    CHAPLAIN 


PEARANCE  —  HIS     CONVERSATIONAL     POWERS  —  HIS    CUSTOM 
OF  PRAYING  FOR  SICK  MEMBERS. 

NO  Senator  who  ever  sat  under  the  ministrations  of  Dr. 
Milburn,  the  blind  chaplain,  can  ever  forget  his  earnest 
and  solemn  invocation.  When  rolling  from  his  tongue, 
each  word  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  seemed  to  weigh  a  pound. 
His  venerable  appearance  and  sightless  eyes  gave  a  tinge  of 
pathetic  emphasis  to  his  every  utterance.  He  was  a  man  of 
rare  gifts;  in  early  life,  before  the  entire  failure  of  his  sight, 
he  had  known  much  of  active  service  in  his  sacred  calling 
upon  Western  circuits.  He  had  been  the  fellow-laborer  of 
Cartwright,  Bascom,  and  other  eminent  Methodist  ministers 
of  the  early  times. 

Dr.  Milburn  was  the  Chaplain  of  the  House  during  the 
Mexican  War,  and  often  a  guest  at  the  Executive  Mansion 
when  Mr.  Polk  was  President.  He  knew  well  many  of  the 
leading  statesmen  of  that  period.  He  possessed  rare  con 
versational  powers;  and  notwithstanding  his  blindness, 
poverty,  and  utter  loneliness,  he  remained  the  pleasing, 
entertaining  gentleman  to  the  last. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  good  Chaplain,  with  the  aid  of 
a  faithful  monitor,  to  keep  thoroughly  advised  as  to  the 
health  of  the  senators  and  their  families.  The  bare  mention, 
in  the  morning  paper,  of  any  ill  having  befallen  any  states 
man  of  whom  he  was,  for  the  time,  the  official  spiritual  shep 
herd,  was  the  unfailing  precursor  of  special  and  affectionate 
mention  at  the  next  convening  of  the  Senate.  Moreover,  ip 
the  discharge  of  this  sacred  duty,  his  invariable  habit  was 
to  designate  the  object  of  his  special  invocation  as  "the  Senior 
Senator"  or  "Junior  Senator,"  carefully  giving  the  name  of 
his  State.  It  is  within  the  realm  of  probability  that  since 

332 


THE  BLIND   CHAPLAIN  333 

the  first  humble  petition  was  breathed,  there  has  never  been 
an  apparently  more  prompt  answer  to  prayer  than  that  now 
to  be  related. 

The  Morning  Post  contained  an  item  to  the  effect  that 
Senator  Voorhees  was  ill.  During  the  accustomed  invoca 
tion  which  preceded  the  opening  of  the  session,  an  earnest 
petition  ascended  for  "the  Senior  Senator  from  Indiana," 
that  he  might  "soon  be  restored  to  his  wonted  health,  and 
permitted  to  return  to  the  seat  so  long  and  so  honorably 
occupied." 

A  moment  later,  the  touching  invocation  being  ended, 
and  the  Senate  duly  in  session,  the  stately  form  of  "the  Sen 
ior  Senator  from  Indiana"  promptly  emerged  from  the  cloak 
room,  and  quietly  resumed  the  seat  he  had  "so  long  and  so 
honorably  occupied." 


XXXIV 
A   MEMORABLE    CENTENNIAL 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  LAYING  THE  CORNER-STONE  OP  THE 
CAPITOL — PROGRESS  OP  THE  REPUBLIC  DURING  THE  NINE 
TEENTH  CENTURY  —  NOTABLE  MEN  WHO  WERE  CONSPIC 
UOUS  AT  THE  NATION'S  BIRTH  —  CONGRESS  HELD  AT  VARIOUS 

PLACES  BEFORE  1800  —  THE  DISTRICT  OP  COLUMBIA  FORMED 
—  NECESSITY  FOR  ENLARGING  THE  CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON 

A     DOCUMENT     BY     WEBSTER     DEPOSITED     BENEATH     THE 

CORNER-STONE  OP  THE  ADDITIONS  —  HIGH  DEBATES  HELD 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE  —  PRESENT  LOCATION  OP 
THE  SENATE  CHAMBER  —  GREAT  INCREASE  OF  POPULATION, 
TERRITORY,  AND  COMMERCE  —  THE  TWO  DIVISIONS  OF  CON 
GRESS. 

ON  the  eighteenth  day  of  September,  1893,  the  first  cen 
tennial  of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  national 
Capitol  was  celebrated  by  appropriate  ceremonies  in 
Washington  City. 

President  Cleveland  presided,  and  seated  upon  the  plat 
form  were  the  members  of  his  Cabinet,  the  Senate,  the  House 
of  Representatives,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  Foreign  Ambassadors. 

The  oration  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  William  Wirt 
Henry,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  grandson  of  Patrick  Henry. 
The  addresses  which  followed  were  by  myself,  representing 
the  Senate;  Speaker  Crisp,  representing  the  House;  and  Jus 
tice  Brown,  the  Supreme  Court.  I  spoke  as  follows: 

"This  day  and  this  hour  mark  the  close  of  a  century  of 
our  national  history.  No  ordinary  event  has  called  us 
together.  Standing  in  the  presence  of  this  august  assem 
blage  of  the  people,  upon  the  spot  where  Washington  stood, 
we  solemnly  commemorate  the  one-hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  nation's  Capitol. 

334 


A  MEMORABLE  CENTENNIAL  335 

"It  is  well  that  this  day  has  been  set  apart  as  a  national 
holiday,  that  all  public  business  has  been  suspended,  and 
that  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  the  members  of  the  great 
Court,  and  of  the  Congress,  unite  with  their  countrymen  in 
doing  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  one  hundred 
years  ago,  at  this  hour,  and  upon  this  spot,  put  in  place  the 
corner-stone  of  the  Capitol  of  the  American  Republic.  The 
century  rolls  back,  and  we  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  grand 
est  and  most  imposing  figure  known  to  any  age  or  country. 
Washington,  as  Grand  Master  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
clothed  in  the  symbolic  garments  of  that  venerable  Order, 
wearing  the  apron  and  the  sash  wrought  by  the  hands  of  the 
wife  of  the  beloved  La  Fayette,  impressively  and  hi  accord 
ance  with  the  time-honored  usages  of  that  Order,  is  laying 
his  hands  upon  the  corner-stone  of  the  future  and  permanent 
Capitol  of  his  country.  The  solemn  ceremonies  of  the  hour 
were  conducted  by  Washington,  not  only  in  his  office  of  Grand 
Master  of  Free  Masons,  but  in  his  yet  more  august  office  of 
President  of  the  United  States.  Assisting  him  in  the  fitting 
observance  of  these  impressive  rites,  were  representatives  of 
the  Masonic  Lodges  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  while  around 
him  stood  men  whose  honored  names  live  with  his  in  history  — 
the  men  who,  on  field  and  in  council,  had  aided  first  in  achiev 
ing  independence,  and  then  in  the  yet  more  difficult  task  of 
garnering,  by  wise  legislation,  the  fruits  of  victory.  Truly, 
the  centennial  of  an  event  so  fraught  with  interest  should  not 
pass  unnoticed. 

"History  furnishes  no  parallel  to  the  century  whose  close 
we  now  commemorate.  Among  all  the  centuries  it  stands 
alone.  With  hearts  filled  with  gratitude  to  the  God  of  our 
fathers,  it  is  well  that  we  recall  something  of  the  progress 
of  the  young  Republic,  since  the  masterful  hour  when 
Washington  laid  his  hands  upon  the  foundation-stone  of 
yonder  Capitol. 

"The  seven  years  of  colonial  struggle  for  liberty  had 
terminated  in  glorious  victory.  Independence  had  been 
achieved.  The  Articles  of  Confederation,  binding  the  Col 
onies  together  in  a  mere  league  of  friendship,  had  given  place 


336  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  —  that  wonderful 
instrument,  so  aptly  declared  by  Mr.  Gladstone  to  be  'the 
most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by 
the  brain  and  purpose  of  man/ 

"Without  a  dissenting  voice  in  the  Electoral  Colleges, 
Washington  had  been  chosen  President.  At  his  council- 
table  sat  Jefferson,  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence;  Hamilton,  of  whom  it  has  been  said,  '  He  smote 
the  rock  of  the  national  resources,  and  abundant  streams 
of  revenue  gushed  forth.  He  touched  the  dead  corpse  of 
the  public  credit,  and  it  sprung  upon  its  feet';  Knox,  the 
brave  and  trusted  friend  of  his  chief  during  the  colonial 
struggle;  and  Edmund  Randolph,  the  impress  of  whose 
genius  has  been  indelibly  left  upon  the  Federal  Constitution. 
Vermont  and  Kentucky,  as  sovereign  States  —  coequal  with 
the  original  thirteen  —  had  been  admitted  into  the  Union. 
The  Supreme  Court,  consisting  of  six  members,  had  been 
constituted,  with  the  learned  jurist  John  Jay  as  its  Chief 
Justice.  The  popular  branch  of  the  Congress  consisted  of 
but  one  hundred  and  five  members.  Thirty  members  consti 
tuted  the  Senate,  over  whose  deliberations  presided  the 
patriot  statesman,  John  Adams.  The  population  of  the  entire 
country  was  less  than  four  millions.  The  village  of  Wash 
ington,  the  capital  —  and  I  trust  for  all  coming  ages  the  cap 
ital  —  contained  but  a  few  hundred  inhabitants. 

"After  peace  had  been  concluded  with  Great  Britain,  and 
while  we  were  yet  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  the 
sessions  of  the  Congress  were  held  successively  at  Prince 
ton,  Annapolis,  Trenton,  and  New  York.  In  the  presence 
of  both  houses  of  Congress,  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  April,  1789, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  Washington  had  been  inaugurated 
President.  From  that  hour  —  the  beginning  of  our  Govern 
ment  under  the  Constitution  —  the  Congress  was  held  in  New 
York,  until  1790,  then  in  Philadelphia  until  1800,  when,  on 
November  17,  it  first  convened  in  Washington.  The  neces 
sity  of  selecting  a  suitable  and  central  place  for  the  permanent 
location  of  the  seat  of  Government  early  engaged  the  thought 
ful  consideration  of  our  fathers.  It  cannot  be  supposed 


A  MEMORABLE  CENTENNIAL  337 

that  the  question  reached  a  final  determination  without  great 
embarrassment,  earnest  discussion,  and  the  manifestation 
of  sectional  jealousies.  But,  as  has  been  well  said,  the  good 
genius  of  our  system  finally  prevailed,  '  and  a  district  of  ter 
ritory  on  the  River  Potomac,  at  some  place  between  the 
mouths  of  the  Eastern  branch  and  the  Conococheague,'  was, 
by  Act  of  Congress  of  June  28,  1790,  '  accepted  for  the  per 
manent  seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States.'  From 
the  seventeenth  day  of  November,  1800,  this  city  has  been 
the  capital.  When  that  day  came,  Washington  had  gone 
to  his  grave,  John  Adams  was  President,  and  Jefferson 
the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate.  It  may  be  well  to  re 
call  that  upon  the  occasion  of  the  assembling  for  the  first 
time  of  the  Congress  in  the  Capitol,  President  Adams  ap 
peared  before  the  Senate  and  the  House,  in  joint  session, 
and  said: 

"  '  It  would  be  unbecoming  the  representatives  of  this  nation 
to  assemble  for  the  first  time  in  this  solemn  temple,  without  look 
ing  up  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Universe  and  imploring  His 
blessing.  You  will  consider  it  as  the  capital  of  a  great  nation, 
advancing  with  unexampled  rapidity  in  arts,  in  commerce,  in 
wealth,  and  population,  and  possessing  within  itself  those  re 
sources  which,  if  not  thrown  away  or  lamentably  misdirected, 
will  secure  it  a  long  course  of  prosperity  and  self-government.' 

"To  this  address  of  President  Adams  the  Senate  made 
reply: 

"  '  We  meet  you,  sir,  and  the  other  branch  of  the  national 
Legislature,  in  the  city  which  is  honored  by  the  name  of  our 
late  hero  and  sage,  the  illustrious  Washington,  with  sensations 
and  emotions  which  exceed  our  power  of  description.' 

"From  the  date  last  given  until  the  burning  of  the  Cap 
itol  by  the  British,  in  1814,  in  the  room  now  occupied  by 
the  Supreme  Court  Library,  in  the  north  wing,  were  held 
the  sessions  of  the  Senate.  That  now  almost  forgotten 
apartment  witnessed  the  assembling  of  Senators  who,  at 
an  earlier  period  of  our  history,  had  been  the  associates  of 
Washington  and  of  Franklin,  and  had  themselves  played 
no  mean  part  in  crystallizing  into  the  great  organic  law,  the 
deathless  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 


338  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

From  this  chamber  went  forth  the  second  Declaration  of 
War  against  Great  Britain ;  and  here,  before  the  Senate  as 
a  court  of  impeachment,  was  arraigned  a  Justice  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States,  to  answer  the  charge  of 
alleged  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

"  With  the  rolling  years  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Repub 
lic,  came  the  imperative  necessity  for  enlarging  its  Capitol. 
The  debates  upon  this  subject  culminated  in  the  Act  of  Con 
gress  of  September  30,  1850,  providing  for  the  erection 
of  the  north  and  south  wings  of  the  Capitol.  Thomas  U. 
Walter  was  the  architect  to  whose  hands  was  committed 
the  great  work.  Yonder  noble  structure  will  stand  for  ages 
the  silent  witness  of  the  fidelity  with  which  the  important 
trust  was  discharged. 

"  The  corner-stone  of  the  additions  was  laid  by  President 
Fillmore,  on  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1851.  In  honor  of 
that  event,  and  by  request  of  the  President,  Mr.  Webster 
pronounced  an  oration,  and  while  we  have  a  country  and 
a  language  his  words  will  touch  a  responsive  chord  in  patri 
otic  hearts.  Beneath  the  corner-stone  was  then  deposited 
a  paper,  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Webster,  containing  the 
following  words: 

"  '  If  it  shall  be,  hereafter,  the  will  of  God,  that  this  structure 
shall  fall  from  its  base,  that  its  foundation  be  upturned  and  this 
deposit  brought  to  the  eyes  of  men,  be  it  then  known  that  on 
this  day  the  Union  of  the  United  States  of  America  stands  firm, 
that  their  Constitution  still  exists  unimpaired,  with  all  its  orig 
inal  usefulness  and  glory,  growing  every  day  stronger  and  stronger 
in  the  affections  of  the  great  body  of  the  American  people,  and 
attracting  more  and  more  the  attention  of  the  world.  And  all 
here  assembled,  whether  belonging  to  public  life  or  to  private 
life,  with  hearts  devoutly  thankful  to  Almighty  God  for  the 
preservation  of  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  country,  unite 
in  sincere  and  fervent  prayers  that  this  deposit,  and  the  walls 
and  arches,  the  domes  and  towers,  the  columns  and  entablatures 
now  to  be  erected  over  it,  may  endure  forever.' 

"  From  the  sixth  day  of  December,  1819,  until  January  4, 
1859,  a  period  of  thirty-nine  years,  the  sessions  of  the 
Senate  were  held  in  the  present  Supreme  Court  room.  This 


A  MEMORABLE  CENTENNIAL  339 

was,  indeed,  the  arena  of  high  debate.  When,  in  any  age, 
or  in  any  country,  has  there  been  gathered,  within  so 
small  compass,  so  much  of  human  greatness?  Even  to  sug 
gest  the  great  questions  here  discussed  and  determined, 
would  be  to  write  a  history  of  that  eventful  period.  It  was, 
indeed,  the  coming  together  of  the  master  spirits  of  the 
second  generation  of  American  statesmen.  Here  were 
Macon  and  Crawford,  Benton,  Randolph,  Cass,  Bell,  Houston, 
Preston,  Buchanan,  Seward,  Chase,  Crittenden,  Sumner, 
Choate,  Everett,  Breese,  Trumbull,  Fessenden,  Douglas, 
Clay,  Calhoun,  Webster,  and  others  scarcely  less  illustrious. 
Within  the  walls  of  that  little  chamber  was  heard  the  won 
drous  debate  between  Hayne  and  Webster.  There  began 
the  fierce  conflict  of  antagonistic  ideas  touching  the  respective 
powers  of  the  States  and  of  the  Nation  —  a  conflict  which, 
transferred  to  a  different  theatre,  found  final  solution  only 
in  the  bloody  arbitrament  of  arms. 

"For  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  the  sessions  of  the 
Senate  have  been  held  in  the  magnificent  chamber  of  the 
north  wing  of  the  Capitol.  Of  the  procession  of  sixty-two 
Senators  that,  preceded  by  the  Vice-President,  Mr.  Breck- 
enridge,  entered  the  Chamber  for  the  first  time,  on  the 
fourth  day  of  January,  1859,  but  four  survive;  not  one 
remains  in  public  life.  It  is,  indeed,  now  a  procession  of 
shadows. 

"When  the  foundation-stone  of  this  Capitol  was  laid,  our 
Republic  was  in  its  infancy,  and  self-government  yet  an 
untried  experiment.  It  is  a  proud  reflection  to-day  that 
time  has  proved  the  true  arbiter,  and  that  the  capacity  of 
a  free  and  intelligent  people  to  govern  themselves  by  writ 
ten  constitution  and  laws,  of  their  own  making,  is  no  longer 
an  experiment.  The  crucial  test  of  a  century  of  unparalleled 
material  prosperity  has  been  safely  endured. 

"In  1793  there  was  no  city  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  To 
day  a  single  city  on  Lake  Michigan  contains  a  population  of  a 
little  less  than  one-half  of  the  Republic  at  the  time  of  the  first 
inauguration  of  Washington.  States  have  been  carved  out 
of  the  wilderness,  and  our  great  rivers,  whose  silence  met  no 


340  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

break  on  their  pathway  to  the  sea,  are  now  the  arteries  of 
our  interior  trade,  and  bear  upon  their  bosoms  a  commerce 
which  surpasses  a  hundred-fold  that  of  the  entire  country  a 
century  ago. 

"From  fifteen  States  and  four  millions  of  people,  we  have 
grown  to  fifty  States  and  Territories,  and  sixty-seven  mil 
lions  of  people;  from  an  area  of  eight  hundred  and  five  thou 
sand,  to  an  area  of  three  million,  six  hundred  thousand  square 
miles;  from  a  narrow  strip  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  to 
an  unbroken  possession  from  ocean  to  ocean.  How  marvel 
lous  the  increase  in  our  national  wealth!  In  1793,  our  im 
ports  amounted  to  thirty-one  million,  and  our  exports  to 
twenty-six  million  dollars.  Now  our  imports  are  eight  hun 
dred  and  forty-seven  million,  and  our  exports  one  billion  and 
thirty  million  dollars.  Thirty-three  million  tons  of  freight 
are  carried  on  our  Great  Lakes,  whose  only  burden  then  was 
the  Indian's  canoe.  Then  our  national  wealth  was  incon 
siderable;  now  our  assessed  valuation  amounts  to  the  enor 
mous  sum  of  twenty-four  billions,  six  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars.  Then  trade  and  travel  were  dependent  upon  beasts 
of  burden  and  on  sailing  vessels;  now  steam  and  electricity 
do  our  bidding,  railroads  cover  the  land,  boats  burden  the 
waters,  the  telegraph  reaches  every  city  and  hamlet;  distance 
is  annihilated,  and 

"  'Civilization,  on  her  luminous  wings, 
Soars,  Phoenix-like,  to  Jove.' 

"  In  the  presence  of  this  wondrous  fulfilment  of  predicted 
greatness,  prophecy  looks  out  upon  the  future  and  stands 
dumb. 

"When  this  corner-stone  was  laid,  France,  then  in  the 
throes  of  revolution,  had  just  declared  war  against  Great 
Britain  —  a  war  in  which  all  Europe  eventually  became  in 
volved.  Within  a  century  of  that  hour,  in  the  capital  of 
France,  there  convened  an  international  court,  its  presiding 
officer  an  eminent  citizen  of  the  French  Republic,  its  mem 
bers  representatives  of  sovereign  European  States,  its  object 
the  peaceable  adjustment  of  controversies  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States. 


A  MEMORABLE  CENTENNIAL  341 

"Was  it  Richelieu  who  said,  'Take  away  the  sword; 
States  can  be  saved  without  it '  ? 

"In  no  part  of  our  mechanism  of  government  was  the  wis 
dom  of  our  fathers  more  strikingly  displayed  than  in  the 
division  of  power  into  the  three  great  departments  —  legisla 
tive,  executive,  and  judicial.  In  an  equal  degree  was  that 
wisdom  manifested  by  the  division  of  the  Congress  into  a 
Senate  and  a  House  of  Representatives.  Upon  the  Senate 
the  Constitution  has  devolved  important  functions  other  than 
those  of  a  merely  legislative  character.  Coequal  with  the 
House  in  matters  of  legislation,  it  is,  in  addition,  the  advisory 
body  of  the  President  in  appointments  to  office,  and  in  treat 
ing  with  foreign  nations.  The  mode  of  election,  together 
with  the  long  term  of  service,  unquestionably  fosters  a  spirit 
of  conservatism  in  the  Senate.  Always  organized,  it  is  the 
continuing  body  of  our  national  legislature.  Its  members 
change,  but  the  Senate  continues  —  the  same  now  as  at  the 
first  hour  of  the  Republic.  Before  no  human  tribunal  come 
for  determination  issues  of  weightier  moment.  It  were  idle 
to  doubt  that  problems  yet  lie  in  our  pathway  as  a  nation, 
as  difficult  of  solution  as  any  that  in  times  past  have  tried 
the  courage  or  tested  the  wisdom  of  our  fathers.  Yet,  may 
we  not  confidently  abide  in  the  faith  that  in  the  keeping  of 
those  who  succeed  the  illustrious  sages  I  have  named,  the 
dearest  interests  of  our  country  will  be  faithfully  conserved, 
and  in  the  words  of  an  eminent  predecessor,  'though  these 
marble  walls  moulder  into  ruin,  the  Senate,  in  another  age, 
may  bear  into  a  new  and  large  chamber  the  Constitution, 
vigorous  and  inviolate,  and  that  the  last  generation  of 
posterity  shall  witness  the  deliberations  of  the  representa 
tives  of  American  States,  still  united,  prosperous,  and  free'? 

"And  may  our  fathers'  God,  'from  out  whose  hand  the 
centuries  fall  like  grains  of  sand,'  continue  to  the  American 
people,  throughout  all  the  ages,  the  prosperity  and  blessings 
which  He  has  given  to  us  in  the  past." 


XXXV 
COLUMBUS   MONUMENT   IN  CENTRAL   PARK 

FITNESS  OP  NEW  YORK  AS  THE  SITE  FOR  THE  STATUE  —  VAST 
IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA  —  COLUMBUS's 
HUMILITY  AND  HIS  TRUST  IN  GOD  —  THE  STATUE  UNVEILED 
—  CONCLUDING  WORDS  OF  MR.  DEPEW's  ORATION. 

FACING  the  statue  of  Shakespeare  in  Central  Park,  New 
York,  is  that  of  Christopher  Columbus.  It  was  unveiled 
with  appropriate  ceremonies.  General  James  Grant 
Wilson  presided;  Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe  read  her  beautiful 
poem,  "The  Mariner's  Dream,"  and  the  oration  was  de 
livered  by  the  Hon.  Chauncey  Depew.  Upon  this  occasion 
I  spoke  as  follows: 

"  This  hour  will  live  in  history.  Central  Park,  beautiful 
and  magnificent,  is  the  fitting  place  for  the  statue  of  Columbus. 
It  is  well  that  to  the  City  of  New  York,  the  metropolis  of  the 
continent,  should  have  fallen  the  grateful  task  of  portraying 
to  the  millions  of  all  the  coming  ages  the  features  of  the  man 
who,  despite  obstacles  and  dangers,  marked  out  the  pathway 
to  the  New  World. 

"  The  name  and  fame  of  Columbus  belong  exclusively  to 
no  age  or  country.  They  are  the  enduring  heritage  of  all 
people.  Your  President  has  truly  said :  '  In  all  the  transac 
tions  of  history,  there  is  no  act  which,  for  vastness  and  per 
formance,  can  be  compared  to  the  discovery  of  the  continent 
of  America.  In  the  modest  words  of  the  great  navigator,  he 
'only  opened  the  gates';  and  lo!  there  came  in  the  builders 
of  a  new  and  mighty  nation. 

"  It  is  said  that  in  Venice  there  is  sacredly  preserved  a  let 
ter  written  by  Columbus  a  few  hours  before  he  sailed  from 
Palos.  With  reverent  expression  of  trust  in  God,  humbly,  but 
with  unfaltering  faith,  he  spoke  of  his  proposed  voyage  to  that 
famous  land.  He  builded  better  than  he  knew.  His  dream, 
while  a  suppliant  in  the  outer  chambers  of  kings,  and  while 

342 


COLUMBUS  MONUMENT  IN  CENTRAL  PARK       343 

keeping  lonely  vigil  on  the  deep,  was  the  discovery  of  a  new 
pathway  to  the  Indies.  Yet  who  can  doubt  that  to  his 
prophetic  soul  was  then  foreshadowed  something  of  that 
famous  land  with  the  warp  and  woof  of  whose  history,  tra 
dition,  and  song,  his  name  and  fame  are  linked  for  all  time? 
Was  it  Mr.  Winthrop  who  said  of  Columbus  and  his  compeers: 
'They  were  the  pioneers  in  the  march  to  independence;  the 
precursors  in  the  only  progress  of  freedom  which  was  to  have 
no  backward  steps.' 

"  Is  it  too  much  to  say  of  this  man  that  among  the  world's 
benefactors  a  greater  than  he  hath  not  appeared?  What 
page  in  our  history  tells  of  deeds  so  fraught  with  blessings  to 
the  generations  of  men  as  the  discovery  of  America?  Colum 
bus  added  a  continent  to  the  map  of  the  world. 

"  I  will  detain  you  no  longer.  Your  eyes  will  now  behold 
this  splendid  work  of  art.  It  is  well  that  its  approaches  are 
firm  and  broad,  for  along  this  pathway,  with  the  rolling  cen 
turies,  will  come,  as  pilgrims  to  a  shrine,  the  myriads  of  all 
lands  to  behold  this  statue  of  Columbus,  this  enduring  monu 
ment  of  the  gratitude  of  a  great  city,  of  a  great  nation." 

As  the  last  words  were  spoken,  I  leaned  over  and  grasped 
the  rope  fastened  to  the  flag  that  enveloped  the  statue.  The 
flag  parted  on  either  side  and  was  removed  by  attendants. 
The  statue  stood  revealed  in  all  its  beauty  under  the  shade 
of  the  great  elms  of  the  Mall. 

Mr.  Depew  concluded  his  eloquent  oration  with  the  follow 
ing  words: 

"  We  are  here  to  erect  this  statue  to  his  memory  because  of 
the  unnumbered  blessings  to  America  and  to  the  people  of  every 
race  and  clime  which  have  followed  his  discovery.  His  genius 
and  faith  gave  succeeding  generations  the  opportunity  for  life 
and  liberty.  We,  the  heirs  of  all  the  ages,  in  the  plenitude  of  our 
enjoyments,  and  the  prodigality  of  the  favors  showered  upon 
us,  hail  Columbus  our  benefactor." 


XXXVI 
A  PLATFORM  NOT  DANGEROUS  TO  STAND  UPON 

A  CITIZEN  WHO  LONGED  TO  BE  A  MEMBER  OF  THE  MISSOURI  LEGIS 
LATURE  A    COMMITTEE    APPOINTED    BY    A  MEETING     OF   HIS 

FRIENDS  —  DIFFICULTY     IN      ARRANGING     THE     PLATFORM  — 
THE  RESOLUTIONS  ADOPTED  UNANIMOUSLY. 

THE  builders  of  political  platforms,  which  uniformly 
" point  with  pride"  and  "view  with  alarm,"  may  pos 
sibly  glean  a  valuable  suggestion  from  the  following 
incident  related  by  Governor  Knott.  In  the  county  in  the 
good  State  of  Missouri  in  which  his  fortune  was  cast  for  a 
while,  there  lived  and  flourished,  in  the  ante-bellum  days,  one 
Solomon  P.  Rodes,  whose  earnest  and  long-continued  yearn 
ing  was  to  be  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature.  So  intense, 
indeed,  had  this  feeling  become  in  the  mind  of  Solomon, 
that  he  at  length  openly  declared  that  he  "  would  rather  go  to 
the  Missouri  Legislater,  than  to  be  the  Czar  of  Rooshy." 
And  in  passing,  it  may  here  be  safely  admitted  that  even  a 
wiser  man  than  Solomon  might  make  this  declaration  in 
these  early  years  of  the  twentieth  century. 

Following  the  example  of  greater  men  than  himself  when 
aspiring  to  public  office,  Mr.  Rodes  called  a  meeting  of  his 
party  friends  in  his  precinct,  to  the  end  that  his  modest 
"boom"  might  be  successfully  launched.  After  the  accus 
tomed  organization  had  been  effected,  a  committee  of  five, 
of  which  our  aspirant  was  chairman,  was  duly  appointed  to 
prepare  and  present  appropriate  resolutions.  The  committee 
at  once  retired  for  consultation,  to  a  log  in  the  rear  of  the 
schoolhouse,  leaving  the  convention  in  session.  No  rattling 
orator  being  present  to  arouse  the  enthusiasm  so  essential 
to  patient  waiting,  the  little  assemblage,  wearied  by  the  delay, 
at  length  despatched  a  messenger  to  expedite,  if  possible, 
the  labors  of  the  committee.  The  messenger  found  the 
committee  in  a  condition  far  otherwise  than  encouraging. 

344 


A  PLATFORM  NOT  DANGEROUS  TO  STAND  UPON    345 

The  resolutions  had  failed  to  materialize,  and  the  chairman, 
seated  upon  the  log,  with  pencil  in  hand,  and  gazing  pensively 
upon  a  blank  leaf  before  him,  seemed  the  very  picture  of 
despair.  Upon  a  second  admonition  from  the  unreasonably 
impatient  meeting,  that  adjournment  would  immediately 
take  place  unless  the  resolutions  were  reported,  the  committee 
hastily  concluded  its  labors  and,  preceded  by  the  chairman 
with  document  in  hand,  solemnly  returned  to  the  place  of 
assembly. 

The  resolutions,  two  in  number,  and  unanimously  and 
with  great  enthusiasm  promptly  adopted,  were  in  words  and 
figures  as  follows,  to-wit : 

"  (1)  Resolv  that  in  the  declaration  of  independence  and 
likewise  also  in  the  constitution  of  the  united  states,  we  rec 
ognize  a  able  and  well  ritten  document,  and  that  we  are 
tetotually  oppose  to  the  repeal  of  airy  one  of  the  aforesaid 
instruments  of  riting.  Resolv : 

"  (2)  that  in  our  fellow-townsman,  Solomon  P.  Rodes,  we 
view  a  onest  man  and  hereby  annominate  him  for  the  legis 
lator." 


XXXVII 
ANECDOTES   OF   GOVERNOR    OGLESBY 

OGLESBY'S  GREATNESS  IN  DISCUSSING  QUESTIONS  CONNECTED 
WITH  THE  REBELLION  —  HIS  WORK  IN  THE  MEXICAN  AND 
CIVIL  WARS  —  HE  VISITS  THE  ORIENT  —  FAILS  TO  FIND  OUT 
WHO  BUILT  THE  PYRAMIDS. 

FEW  men  have  enjoyed  a  greater  degree  of  popularity 
than  did  the  late  Governor  Oglesby  of  Illinois.  He 
was  whole-souled,  genial,  and  at  all  times  the  most 
delightful  of  companions.  He  stood  in  the  front  rank  of 
campaign  orators  when  slavery,  rebellion,  war,  and  recon 
struction  were  the  stirring  questions  of  the  hour.  In  the 
discussion  of  these  once  vital  issues,  with  the  entire  State  for 
an  audience,  he  was  without  a  peer.  But  when  they  were 
relegated  to  the  domain  of  history  and  succeeded  by  tariff, 
finance,  and  other  commonplace,  everyday  questions,  the 
Governor  felt  greatly  hampered.  In  a  large  degree  Othel 
lo's  occupation  was  gone.  Cold  facts,  statistics,  figures 
running  up  into  the  millions,  gave  little  opportunity  for  the 
play  of  his  wonderful  imagination. 

In  his  second  race  for  Governor,  in  a  speech  at  Bloom- 
ington,  he  said,  in  a  deprecatory  tone:  "  These  Democrats 
undertake  to  discuss  the  financial  question.  They  ought  n't  to 
do  that.  They  can't  possibly  understand  it.  The  Lord's 
truth  is,  fellow-citizens,  it  is  about  all  we  Republicans  can 
do  to  understand  that  question ! " 

He  was  a  gallant  soldier  in  the  Mexican  and  in  the  great 
Civil  War,  and  in  the  latter  achieved  distinction  as  a  com 
manding  officer.  With  Weldon,  Ewing,  McNulta,  Fifer, 
Rowell,  and  others  as  listeners,  he  once  graphically  described 
the  first  battle  in  which  he  was  engaged.  Turning  to  his  old- 
time  comrade,  McNulta,  he  said:  "There  is  one  supreme 
moment  in  the  experience  of  a  soldier  that  is  absolutely 

346 


R.  J.  OGLESBY 


JOSEPH  W.   FIFER 


ANECDOTES  OF  GOVERNOR  OGLESBY         347 

ecstatic!"  "That,"  quickly  replied  McNulta,  "is  the  very 
moment  when  he  gets  into  battle." 

"No,  damn  it,"  said  Oglesby,  "it  is  the  very  moment  he 
gets  out!11 

In  his  early  manhood,  Oglesby  spent  some  years  abroad. 
His  pilgrimage  extended  even  to  Egypt,  up  the  Nile,  and 
to  the  Holy  Land. 

Few  persons  at  that  time  having  visited  the  Orient,  Ogles- 
by's  descriptions  of  the  wonders  of  the  far-off  countries 
were  listened  to  with  the  deepest  interest.  With  both  mem 
ory  and  imagination  in  their  prime,  it  can  easily  be  believed 
that  these  wonders  of  the  Orient  lost  nothing  by  his  de 
scription.  Soon  after  his  return  he  lectured  in  Bloomington. 
The  audience  were  delighted,  especially  with  his  descrip 
tion  of  the  Pyramids. 

None  of  us  had  ever  before  seen  or  heard  a  man  who 
had  actually,  with  his  own  eyes,  beheld  these  wonders  of  the 
ages.  Near  the  close  of  his  lecture,  and  just  after  he  had 
suggested  the  probability  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  having 
taken  in  the  Pyramids  on  their  wedding  trip,  some  one  in 
the  audience  inquired: 

"  Who  built  the  Pyramids  ?  " 

"  Oh,  damn  it,"  quickly  replied  the  orator,  "  I  don't  know 
who  built  them;  /  asked  everybody  I  saw  in  Egypt  and  none 
of  them  knew! " 

For  much  that  is  of  interest  in  the  career  of  Governor 
Oglesby  I  am  indebted  to  his  honored  successor  in  office, 
my  neighbor  and  friend,  Hon.  Joseph  W.  Fifer  — than 
whom  the  country  has  had  no  braver  soldier  and  the  State 
no  abler  Chief  Executive. 


XXXVIII 
THE   ONE    ENEMY 

CALEB  CUSHING'S  POLITICAL  CAREER  —  HIS  GREAT  AMBITION  A 
SEAT  UBON  THE  SUPREME  BENCH  —  HIS  APPOINTMENT  THERE 
TO  —  HIS  ONE  ENEMY  DEFEATS  HIS  CONFIRMATION. 

"  He  who  has  a  thousand  friends  has  not  a  friend  to  spare, 
And  he  who  has  one  enemy  will  meet  him  everywhere." 

THE  truth  of  the  above  couplet  has  rarely  had  more 
forcible  illustration  than  in  the  case  of  the  late  Caleb 
Gushing  of  Massachusetts.    In  politics  he  was  succes 
sively  Whig,  Democrat,  and  Republican.     During  his  first 
political  affiliation,  he  was  a  Representative  in  Congress;  in 
the  second  a  member  of  Pierce's  Cabinet;  and  in  the  third  a 
Minister  abroad.    He  was  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  for  a  term 
ably  discharged  the  duties  of  Attorney-General  of  the  United 
States.   His  one  ambition  was  a  seat  upon  the  Supreme  Bench. 
This  was  at  length  gratified  by  his  appointment  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Great  Court.    Unfortunately  he  had,  years 
before,  given  mortal  offence  to  Aaron  A.  Sargent,  then  re 
cently  admitted  to  the  bar.    The  latter  soon  after  moved  to 
California,  and  became  in  time  a  Senator  from  that  State. 

When  the  appointment  of  Gushing  came  before  the  Sen 
ate  for  confirmation,  his  one  enemy  was  there.  The  appointee 
had  long  since  forgotten  the  young  lawyer  he  had  once 
treated  so  rudely,  but  he  had  not  been  forgotten.  The  hour 
of  revenge  had  now  come.  After  a  protracted  and  bitter 
struggle,  Sargent,  of  the  same  political  affiliation  as  Gushing, 
succeeded  in  defeating  the  confirmation  by  a  single  vote. 
The  political  sensation  of  the  hour  was  the  Senator's  prompt 
message  to  his  defeated  enemy: 

"Time  at  last  sets  all  things  even; 
And  if  we  do  but  watch  the  hour, 
There  never  yet  was  human  power 
Which  could  evade,  if  unforgiven, 
The  patient  search  and  vigil  long, 
Of  him  who  treasures  up  a  wrong." 
348 


XXXIX 
CONTRASTS  OF  TIMES 

TRAVELLING  IN  1845  COMPARED  WITH  THAT  OF  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 

T  li  THILE  I  was  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  Senator 

\  \    Whitthorne,  of  Tennessee,  called  at  the  Department 

to  see  me  on  official  business.    Seated  at  a  window 

overlooking  the  Capitol,  he  remarked  that  the  chords  of 

memory  were  touched  as  he  entered  the  room;  that  when 

barely  of  age,  he  occupied  for  a  time  a  desk  as  a  clerk  just 

where  he  was  seated. 

He  then  told  me  that  at  the  time  of  the  Presidential 
election  in  1844  he  was  a  law  student  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
Polk,  and  by  his  invitation  came  on  with  him  to  Washing 
ton.  The  journey  of  the  President-elect,  from  Nashville  to 
Washington,  was  in  February,  1845,  just  prior  to  his  inaugu 
ration.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  members  of  his  im 
mediate  family,  his  law  student  Mr.  Whitthorne,  and  the  Hon. 
Cave  Johnson,  who  was  soon  to  hold  a  position  in  his  Cab 
inet.  The  journey  to  Washington,  as  Senator  Whitthorne 
told  me,  was  of  two  weeks'  duration:  first,  by  steamboat 
on  the  Cumberland  and  the  Ohio  to  Pittsburg;  thence  by 
stage  coach  to  the  national  Capitol. 

At  the  time  mentioned,  railroads  scarcely  had  an  ex 
istence  south  of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  Alleghanies;  and 
save  the  single  wire  from  Washington^to  Baltimore,  no  tele 
graph  line  had  been  constructed. 

How  striking  the  commentary,  alike  upon  human  ac 
complishment,  and  upon  opportunity  under  our  free  insti 
tutions,  is  here  presented!  The  wearisome  and  hazardous 
journey  of  half  a  month  by  steamboat  and  stage  coach  had 
been  succeeded  by  one  in  palace  car  of  a  day  and  a  night  of 
comparative  ease  and  safety,  and  the  clerk  had  risen  from 
a  humble  place  in  the  Department  to  that  of  Senator  from 
one  of  the  great  States  of  the  Union. 

349 


XL 
ENDORSING  THE  ADMINISTRATION 

DIFFICULTY  EXPERIENCED  BY  DEMOCRATIC  MEMBERS  IN  PROCUR 
ING  APPOINTMENTS  FOR  THEIR  CONSTITUENTS  —  A  NEW 
MEMBER  THREATENS  TO  FRAME  RESOLUTIONS  OF  CONDEMNA 
TION —  HE  DOES  THE  VERY  OPPOSITE  —  AN  EXPLANATORY 
ANECDOTE. 

THE  Democratic  members  of  the  forty-ninth  Congress 
who  yet  survive  will  probably  recall  something  of  the 
difficulty  they  experienced  in  procuring  for  aspiring 
constituents   prompt  appointments  to  positions  of  honor, 
trust,  and  profit,  under  the  then  lately  inaugurated  admin 
istration.    An  earnest  desire  was  felt,  and  vehemently  ex 
pressed  at  times,  by  those  who  had  been  long  excluded  from 
everything  that  savored  of  Federal  recognition,  for  sweep 
ing  changes  all  along  the  line. 

A  new  member  of  the  House,  from  one  of  the  border 
States,  believing  that  his  grievances  were  far  too  heavy  to 
be  meekly  borne,  made  open  declaration  of  war,  and  asserted 
with  great  confidence  and  with  the  free  use  of  woras  nowhere 
to  be  found  in  "Little  Helps  to  Youthful  Beginners,"  that 
at  the  approaching  Democratic  convention  of  his  State,  res 
olutions  of  condemnation  of  no  uncertain  sound  would  be 
adopted.  Some  conciliatory  observations,  which  I  ventured 
to  offer,  were  treated  with  scorn,  and  the  irate  member,  still 
breathing  out  threatenings,  hastily  turned  his  footsteps 
homeward. 

A  few  mornings  later,  I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find 
in  The  Post  a  telegram  to  the  effect  that  upon  the  assem 
bling  of  the  convention  aforementioned,  the  honorable  gentle 
men  above  designated,  securing  prompt  recognition  from  the 
chair,  had,  under  a  suspension  of  the  rules,  secured  the  unan 
imous  adoption  of  a  resolution  enthusiastically  and  uncon- 

350 


ENDORSING  THE  ADMINISTRATION  351 

ditionally  endorsing  every  act,  past,  present,  and  to  come, 
of  the  national  Democratic  administration. 

Upon  the  return  of  the  member  to  Washington,  I  ex 
pressed  to  him  my  surprise  at  a  conversion  which,  in  sud 
denness  and  power,  had  possibly  but  one  parallel  hi  either 
sacred  or  profane  history.  Closing  his  near  eye,  he  said: 

"Look  here!  I  can  illustrate  my  position  about  this 
matter  by  relating  a  little  incident  I  witnessed  near  the  close 
of  the  war.  Just  as  I  was  leaving  an  old  ferry-boat  hi  which 
I  had  crossed  the  Tennessee  River,  my  attention  was  at 
tracted  to  a  canoe  near  by  in  which  were  seated  two  fisher 
men,  both  negroes,  one  a  very  old  man  and  the  other  a  small 
boy.  Suddenly  the  canoe  capsized  and  they  were  both 
dumped  in  the  deep  water.  The  boy  was  an  expert  swimmer 
and  was  in  no  danger.  Not  so  with  the  old  man;  he  sank 
immediately,  and  it  certainly  seemed  that  his  fishing  days 
were  over.  The  boy,  however,  with  a  pluck  and  skill  that 
did  him  great  credit,  instantly  dived  to  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  and  with  great  difficulty  and  much  personal  peril 
finally  succeeded  in  landing  the  old  man  upon  the  shore. 

"Approaching  the  heroic  youth,  as  he  was  wringing  the 
water  from  his  own  garments,  I  inquired, 

111  Your  father,  is  he?' 

"'No,  sir/  was  the  quick  reply,  'he  ain't  my  father.' 

"'Your  grandfather,  then?' 

"'No,  sir,  he  ain't  my  grandfather  nuther,  he  ain't  no 
kin  to  me,  I  tell  you.' 

"Earnestly  expressing  my  surprise  at  his  having  imperilled 
his  own  life  to  save  a  man  who  was  no  kin  to  him,  the  boy 
replied, 

"'You  see,  dis  was  de  way  of  it,  boss;  de  ole  man,  he  had 
debait!'" 


XLI 
ANECDOTES   ABOUT   LINCOLN 

LINCOLN 'S  TROUBLE  WITH  THREE  EMANCIPATION  ENTHUSIASTS  — 

A  SCHOOLBOY'S  TROUBLE  WITH  SHADRACH,  MESHACH,  AND 
ABEDNEGO  —  PRETTY  WELL  OFF  WITH  A  FORTUNE  OF  FIFTEEN 

THOUSAND    DOLLARS — LINCOLN    REBUKES    SOME    RICH    MEN 
WHO  DEMAND  A  GUNBOAT  FOR  THE  PROTECTION  OF  NEW  YORK. 

THE  Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  now  of  Washington  City, 
but  during  the  war  and  the  early  reconstruction  period 
a  distinguished  Union  Senator  from  Missouri,  relates 
the  following  incident  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  During  the  gloomy 
period  of  1862,  late  one  Sunday  afternoon  he  called  upon  the 
President  and  found  him  alone  in  his  library.  After  some 
moments  Mr.  Lincoln,  apparently  much  depressed,  stated 
in  substance:  "They  are  making  every  effort,  Henderson,  to 
induce  me  to  issue  a  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  Sumner 
and  Wilson  and  Stevens  are  constantly  urging  me,  but  I 
don't  think  it  best  now;  do  you  think  so,  Henderson?"  To 
which  the  latter  promptly  replied  that  he  did  not  think  so; 
that  such  a  measure,  under  existing  conditions,  would,  in  his 
judgment,  be  ill-advised  and  possibly  disastrous.  "  Just  what 
I  think,"  said  the  President,  "but  they  are  constantly  coming 
and  urging  me,  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  in  couples,  and 
sometimes  all  three  together,  but  constantly  pressing  me." 
With  that  he  walked  across  the  room  to  a  window  and  looked 
out  upon  the  Avenue.  Sure  enough,  Wilson,  Stevens,  and 
Sumner  were  seen  approaching  the  Executive  Mansion.  Call 
ing  his  visitor  to  the  window  and  pointing  to  the  approach 
ing  figures,  in  a  tone  expressing  something  of  that  wondrous 
sense  of  humor  that  no  burden  or  disaster  could  wholly 
dispel,  he  said,  "Henderson,  did  you  ever  attend  an  old 
field  school?"  Henderson  replied  that  he  had. 

"So  did  I,"  said  the  President;  "what  little  education  I 

352 


LAWRENCE   WELDON 


THOMAS   F    MARSHALL 


ANECDOTES  ABOUT  LINCOLN  353 

ever  got  in  early  life  was  in  that  way.  I  attended  an  old 
field  school  in  Indiana,  where  our  only  reading-book  was  the 
Bible.  One  day  we  were  standing  up  reading  the  account 
of  the  three  Hebrew  children  in  the  fiery  furnace.  A  little 
tow-headed  fellow  who  stood  beside  me  had  the  verse  with 
the  unpronounceable  names;  he  mangled  up  Shadrach  and 
Meshach  woefully,  and  finally  went  all  to  pieces  on  Abed- 
nego.  Smarting  under  the  blows  which,  in  accordance  with 
the  old-time  custom,  promptly  followed  his  delinquency,  the 
little  fellow  sobbed  aloud.  The  reading,  however,  went 
round,  each  boy  in  the  class  reading  his  verse  in  turn.  The 
sobbing  at  length  ceased,  and  the  .tow-headed  boy  gazed 
intently  upon  the  verses  ahead. 

"Suddenly  he  gave  a  pitiful  yell,  at  which  the  school 
master  demanded: 

"'What  is  the  matter  with  you  now? 

"'Look  there/  said  the  boy,  pointing  to  the  next  verse, 
"there  comes  them  same  damn  three  fellows  again!'" 

As  indicating  the  slight  concern  Mr.  Lincoln  had  about 
money-making,  as  well  as  the  significance  of  the  expression 
"well  off"  half  a  century  or  so  ago,  the  following  conversa 
tion,  related  by  Judge  Weldon,  is  in  point. 

At  the  opening  of  the  De  Witt  Circuit  Court  in  May,  1859, 
just  a  year  before  his  first  nomination  for  the  Presidency, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  present,  unattended  for  possibly  the  first 
time  by  his  life-long  friend,  Major  John  T.  Stuart.  Upon 
inquiry  from  Weldon  as  to  whether  Stuart  was  coming,  Lin 
coln  replied,  "No,  Stuart  told  me  that  he  would  not  be  here 
this  term." 

Weldon  then  remarked,  "I  suppose  the  Major  has  gotten 
to  be  pretty  well  off  and  does  n't  have  to  attend  all  the  courts 
in  the  Circuit." 

"Yes,"  replied  Lincoln,  "Stuart  is  pretty  well  to  do,  pretty 
well  to  do." 

"How  much  is  the  Major  probably  worth,  Mr.  Lincoln?" 
asked  Mr.  Weldon. 

"Well,"  replied  the  latter,  after  a  moment's  thought,  "I 


354  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

don't  know  exactly;  Stuart  is  pretty  well  off;  /  suppose  he 
must  be  worth  about  fifteen  thousand  dollars." 

Another  incident  characteristic  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  re 
lated  by  his  friend  Judge  Weldon. 

During  the  gloomiest  period  of  the  war,  and  while  our 
seaboard  cities  were  in  constant  apprehension  of  attack,  a 
delegation  of  business  men  from  New  York  visited  Washing 
ton  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  gunboat  secured  for  the 
defence  of  their  city.  At  their  request,  Judge  Weldon  ac 
companied  them  to  the  Executive  Mansion  and  introduced 
them  to  the  President.  The  spokesman  of  the  delegation, 
after  depicting  at  length  and  in  somewhat  pompous  manner, 
the  dangers  that  threatened  the  great  metropolis,  took  occa 
sion,  in  manner  at  once  conclusive,  to  state  that  he  spoke 
with  authority,  that  the  gentlemen  constituting  the  committee 
of  which  he  was  the  chairman  represented  property  aggre 
gating  in  value  many  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 
At  this,  Mr.  Lincoln  interposing  impatiently,  and  in  a  manner 
never  to  be  forgotten,  said : 

"It  seems  to  me,  gentlemen,  that  if  I  were  as  rich  as  you 
say  you  are,  and  as  badly  scared  as  you  appear  to  be,  I  would, 
in  this  hour  of  my  country's  distress,  just  buy  that  gunboat 
myself!" 


XLII 
THE  FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA 

FAR-REACHING  EFFECTS  OF  THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  VIRGINIA 
HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES  —  VIRGINIANS  GIFT  OF  TERRITORY 
TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  —  KASKASKIA  CAPTURED  FROM  THE 
BRITISH  —  JAMESTOWN  THE  SCENE  OF  THE  FIRST  BRITISH 
COLONY  —  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  COLONIAL  SELF-GOVERNMENT 

—  SALUTARY  LAWS  MADE  —  POCAHONTAS  —  GOVERNMENT  BY 
CHARTER  —  DESPOTISM    OF    JAMES     I  —  MACAULAY    ON    THE 
STUART    DYNASTY  —  THE    THIRTEEN    ORIGINAL    COLONIES  — 
UNJUST   TAXATION  —  PROGRESS   OF    REPUBLICAN    PRINCIPLES 

—  VIRGINIA  NOTABLE  FOR  HER  STATESMEN. 

ON  the  thirtieth  of  July,  1907,  at  the  Jamestown  Exposi 
tion,  was  celebrated  the  anniversary  of  the  assembling 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  the  first  legisla 
tive  body  to  assemble  upon  the  Western  continent.  The 
meeting  was  presided  over  by  the  present  Speaker  of  the 
Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  and  by  invitation  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Exposition  addresses  were  made  by  ex-speakers 
Carlisle,  Keifer,  and  myself. 

My  address  was  as  follows: 

"We  have  assembled  upon  historic  ground.  We  cele 
brate  to-day  a  masterful  historic  event.  Other  anniversaries, 
sacredly  observed,  have  their  deep  meaning;  no  one,  how 
ever,  is  fraught  with  profounder  significance  than  this. 

"The  management  of  the  great  Exposition  did  well  to  set 
apart  this  thirtieth  of  July  to  commemorate  the  coming 
together  at  Jamestown  of  the  first  legislative  assembly  in  the 
New  World.  The  assembling  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people  upon  the  eventful  day  two  hundred  and  eighty-six 
years  ago  —  of  which  this  is  the  anniversary  —  marked  an 
epoch  which,  in  far-reaching  consequence,  scarcely  finds  a 
parallel  in  history.  It  was  the  initial  step  in  the  series  of 
stupendous  events  which  found  their  culmination  in  the  Bill 

355 


356          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  Rights,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  formula 
tion  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 

"  From  my  home,  a  thousand  miles  to  the  westward,  in  the 
great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  I  come  at  your  bidding  to  bear 
part  in  the  exercises  of  this  day.  Not  as  a  stranger,  an  alien 
to  your  blood,  but  as  your  countryman,  your  fellow-citizen, 
I  gladly  lift  my  voice  in  this  great  assemblage.  And  when 
were  the  words,  '  fellow-citizens/  of  deeper  significance  or 
suggestive  of  a  more  glorious  past  than  to-day,  as  we  gather 
upon  this  hallowed  spot  to  commemorate  one  of  the  grandest 
events  of  which  history  has  any  record? 

"  The  magical  words,  '  fellow-citizens/  never  fail  to  touch 
a  responsive  chord  in  the  patriotic  heart.  Was  it  the  gifted 
Prentiss  who  at  a  critical  moment  of  our  history  exclaimed, 
'For  whether  upon  the  Sabine  or  the  St.  Johns;  standing  in 
the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill,  or  amid  the  ruins  of  Jamestown; 
near  the  great  northern  chain  of  lakes,  or  within  the  sound  of 
the  Father  of  Waters,  flowing  un vexed  to  the  sea;  in  the 
crowded  mart  of  the  great  metropolis,  or  upon  the  western 
verge  of  the  continent,  where  the  restless  tide  of  emigration 
is  stayed  only  by  the  ocean  —  everywhere  upon  this  broad 
domain,  thank  God,  I  can  still  say,  'fellow-citizens  '? 

"  And  truly,  an  Illinoisan  is  no  stranger  within  the 
confines  of  'the  Old  Dominion.'  You  have  not  forgotten, 
we  cannot  forget,  that  the  territory  now  embraced  in  five 
magnificent  commonwealths  bordering  upon  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi,  was  at  a  crucial  period  of  our  history  the  generous 
gift  of  Virginia  to  the  general  Government, —  a  gift  that  in 
splendid  statesmanship  and  in  far-reaching  consequence  has 
no  counterpart;  one  which  at  the  pivotal  moment  made  pos 
sible  the  ratification  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  —  the 
sure  forecast  of  'the  more  perfect  Union'  yet  to  follow. 
Illinois,  the  greatest  of  the  commonwealths  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  can  never  forget  that  it  was  a  Virginian,  George 
Rogers  Clark,  who,  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  Revolution, 
led  the  expedition  —  'worthy  of  mention/  as  was  said  by 
John  Randolph,  'with  that  of  Hannibal  in  Italy/  —  by 
which  the  ancient  capital,  Kaskaskia,  was  captured,  the  Brit- 


FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA      357 

ish  flag  deposed,  and  Illinois  taken  possession  of  in  the  name 
of  the  commonwealth  whose  Governor,  Patrick  Henry,  had 
authorized  the  masterful  conquest.  Nor  can  it  be  forgotten 
that  the  deed  of  cession  by  which  Illinois  became  part  and 
parcel  of  the  general  Government,  bears  —  as  commissioners 
upon  the  part  of  Virginia  —  the  honored  names  of  Arthur 
Lee,  James  Monroe,  and  Thomas  Jefferson.  Is  it  to  be  won 
dered  at,  that  a  magnificent  Illinois  building  adorns  the 
grounds  of  the  Jamestown  Exposition, —  and  that  Illinois 
hearts  everywhere  beat  in  unison  with  yours  in  the  celebra 
tion  of  one  of  the  epoch-marking  days  of  all  the  ages? 

"  The  time  is  propitious  for  setting  history  aright.  This 
exposition  will  not  have  been  in  vain  if  the  fact  be  crystal 
lized  into  history  yet  to  be  written,  that  the  first  settle 
ment  by  English-speaking  people  —  just  three  centuries  ago 
— upon  this  continent,  was  at  Jamestown.  And  that  here  self- 
government  —  in  its  crude  form  but  none  the  less  self-govern 
ment  —had  its  historical  beginning.  Truly  has  it  been  said 
by  an  eminent  writer  of  your  own  State,  that  prior  to  De 
cember,  1620,  'the  colony  of  Virginia  had  become  so  firmly 
established  and  self-government  in  precisely  the  same  form 
which  existed  up  to  the  Revolution  throughout  the  English 
colonies  had  taken  such  firm  root  thereon,  that  it  was  begin 
ning  to  affect  not  only  the  people  but  the  Government  of 
Great  Britain/  In  the  old  church  at  Jamestown,  on  July  30, 
1619,  was  held  the  first  legislative  assembly  of  the  New 
World  —  the  historical  House  of  Burgesses.  It  consisted  of 
twenty-two  members,  and  its  constituencies  were  the  several 
plantations  of  the  colony.  A  speaker  was  elected,  the  session 
opened  with  prayer,  and  the  oath  of  supremacy  duly  taken. 
The  Governor  and  Council  occupied  the  front  seats,  and  the 
members  of  the  body,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the 
British  Parliament,  wore  their  hats  during  the  session. 

"  This  General  Assembly  convened  in  response  to  a  sum 
mons  issued  by  Sir  George  Yeardley,  the  recently  appointed 
Governor  of  the  colony.  Hitherto  the  colony  had  been  gov 
erned  by  the  London  Council;  the  real  life  of  Virginia  dates 
from  the  arrival  of  Yeardley,  bringing  with  him  from 


358  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

England  '  commissions  and  instructions  for  the  better  es 
tablishing  of  a  commonwealth/ 

"The  centuries  roll  back,  and  before  us,  in  solemn  session, 
is  the  first  assembly  upon  this  continent  of  the  chosen  rep 
resentatives  of  the  people.  It  were  impossible  to  overstate 
its  deep  import  to  the  struggling  colony,  or  its  far-reaching 
consequence  to  States  yet  unborn.  In  this  little  assem 
blage  of  twenty-two  burgesses,  the  Legislatures  of  nearly  fifty 
commonwealths  to-day  and  of  the  Congress  with  its  represen 
tatives  from  all  the  States  of  '  an  indestructible  union ;  find 
their  historical  beginning.  The  words  of  Bancroft  in  this 
connection  are  worthy  of  remembrance:  'A  perpetual 
interest  attaches  to  this  first  elective  body  that  ever  assem 
bled  in  the  Western  world,  representing  the  people  of  Vir 
ginia  and  making  laws  for  their  government  more  than  a 
year  before  the  May-flower  with  the  Pilgrims  left  the  harbor 
of  Southampton,  and  while  Virginia  was  still  the  only 
British  colony  on  the  continent  of  America.' 

"It  is  to  us  to-day  a  matter  of  profound  gratitude  that 
these  the  earliest  American  lawgivers  were  eminently  worthy 
their  high  vocation.  While  confounding,  in  some  degree,  the 
separate  functions  of  government,  as  abstractly  defined  at  a 
later  day  by  Montesquieu,  and  eventually  put  in  concrete  form 
in  our  fundamental  laws,  State  and  Federal — it  is  none  the  less 
true  that  these  first  legislators  clearly  discerned  their  inherent 
rights  as  a  part  of  the  English-speaking  race.  More  impor 
tant  still,  a  perusal  of  the  brief  records  they  have  left,  im 
presses  the  conviction  that  they  were  no  strangers  to 
the  underlying  fact  that  the  people  are  the  true  source  of 
political  power,  the  evidence  whereof  is  to  be  found  in  the 
scant  records  of  their  proceedings  —  a  priceless  heritage  of 
all  future  generations.  And  first  —  and  fundamental  in  all 
legislative  assemblies  —  they  asserted  the  absolute  right  to 
determine  as  to  the  election  and  qualification  of  members. 
Grants  of  land  were  asked,  not  only  for  the  planters,  but  for 
their  wives,  '  as  equally  important  parts  of  the  colony/  It 
was  wisely  provided  that  of  the  natives  l  the  most  towardly 
boys  in  wit  and  the  graces'  should  be  educated  and  set 


FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA      359 

apart  to  the  work  of  converting  the  Indians  to  the  Christian 
religion;  stringent  penalties  were  attached  to  idleness,  gam 
bling,  and  drunkenness;  excess  in  apparel  was  prohibited  by 
heavy  taxation;  encouragement  was  given  to  agriculture  in 
all  its  known  forms;  while  conceding  'the  commission  of 
privileges'  brought  over  by  the  new  Governor  as  their  fun 
damental  law,  yet  with  the  liberty-guarding  instinct  of  their 
race  they  kept  the  way  open  for  seeking  redress,  'in  case 
they  should  find  aught  not  perfectly  squaring  with  the  state 
of  the  colony/  No  less  important  were  the  enactments 
regulating  the  dealings  of  the  colonists  with  the  Indians. 
Yet  to  be  mentioned,  and  of  transcendent  importance,  was 
the  claim  of  the  burgesses  '  to  allow  or  disallow/  at  their 
own  good  pleasure,  all  orders  of  the  court  of  the  London  Com 
pany.  And  deeply  significant  was  the  declaration  of  these 
representatives  of  three  centuries  ago,  that  their  enactments 
were  instantly  to  be  put  in  force,  without  waiting  for  their 
ratification  in  England.  And  not  to  be  forgotten  is  the  stu 
pendous  fact  that  while  the  battle  with  the  untamed  forces 
of  nature  was  yet  waging,  and  conflict  with  savage  foe  of 
constant  recurrence,  these  legislators  provided  for  the  main 
tenance  of  public  worship,  and  took  the  initial  steps  for  the 
establishment  of  an  institution  of  learning.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  hour  that  witnessed  these  enactments 
witnessed  the  triumph  of  the  popular  over  the  court  party; 
in  no  unimportant  sense,  the  first  triumph  of  the  American 
colonists  over  kingly  prerogative.  Looking  through  the 
mists  of  the  mighty  past,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses,  over  which  your  first  predecessor  presided,  would  it 
be  out  of  place  to  apply  to  that  assemblage  the  historic  words 
spoken  of  one  of  a  later  period:  ' Nobles  by  the  right  of  an 
earlier  creation,  and  priests  by  the  imposition  of  a  mightier 
hand'? 

"  Did  the  occasion  permit,  it  would  be  of  wondrous  interest 
to  linger  for  a  time  with  these,  the  earliest  colonies  in  this, 
the  cradle  of  American  civilization;  to  know  something  of 
their  daily  life,  their  hopes  and  ambitions,  their  struggles  and 
triumphs;  something  of  their  ceaseless  vigil  and  of  the  perils 


360  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

that  environed  them;  to  recall  stirring  incidents  and  heroic 
achievements;  to  catch  a  gleam  of  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
and  devotion  which  in  all  the  annals  of  men  scarcely  finds  a 
parallel.  It  would  be  of  curious  interest  to  watch  the  pa 
rade  and  pomp  of  governors  and  councils  of  royal  appointment 
in  attempted  representation  of  a  pageantry  familiar  to  the 
Old  World,  but  which  was  to  have  no  permanent  abiding- 
place  in  the  New.  Governors  and  their  surbordinates  — 
though  bearing  the  royal  commission,  yet  in  rare  instances 
to  be  classed  only  as  bad  or  indifferent  —  pass  in  long  pro 
cession  before  us  into  the  dim  shadows.  But  out  of  the 
mists  of  this  long  past,  two  figures  emerge  that  have  for  us 
an  abiding  interest ?  John  Smith  and  Pocahontas  —  names 
that  have  place  not  alone  in  romance  and  song,  but  upon 
the  pages  of  veritable  history. 

"  Colonial  governors  strutted  their  brief  hour  upon  the 
stage  and  have  long  passed  to  oblivion;  but  Smith,  the  in 
trepid  soldier,  the  ever-present  friend  and  counsellor  of  the 
early  colonists,  their  stalwart  protector  —  alike  against  the 
bullet  of  the  savage  and  the  mandate  of  official  power  —  will 
not  pass  from  remembrance  so  long  as  heroic  deeds  are 
counted  worthy  of  enduring  record  among  men. 

"With  dark  background  of  rude  cabin  and  wigwam,  of 
scantily  appointed  plantation,  and  of  far-stretching  forest  — 
with  its  mysterious  voices  and  manifold  perils  —  there  passes 
before  us  the  lovely  form  of  the  beautiful  Indian  maiden, 
the  daughter  and  pride  of  the  renowned  native  chieftain. 
So  long  as  courage  and  fidelity  arouse  sympathy  and  admira 
tion,  so  long  will  the  thrilling  legend  of  Pocahontas  touch 
responsive  chords  in  human  hearts.  Its  glamour  is  upon 
the  early  pages  of  colonial  history;  her  witchery  lingers 
upon  stream  and  forest,  and  the  firm  earth  upon  which  we 
tread  seems  to  have  been  hallowed  by  her  footsteps. 

"A  name  that  sheds  lustre  upon  the  earliest  pages  of  our 
Colonial  history  is  that  of  Sir  Edwin  Sandys.  Under  his 
courageous  leadership,  what  was  known  as  the  Virginia  or 
Liberal  party  in  the  London  Company  obtained  a  signal 
triumph  over  that  of  the  court.  The  result  was  the  formal 


FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA       361 

grant  to  the  colony  guaranteeing  free  government  by  writ 
ten  charter.  Its  declared  purpose  was  to  secure  'the  great 
est  comfort  and  benefit  to  the  people  and  the  prevention  of 
injustice,  grievances,  and  oppression.'  It  provided  for  full 
legislative  authority  in  the  Assembly,  and  was  with  some 
modifications  the  model  of  the  systems  subsequently  in 
troduced  into  the  other  English  colonies. 

"  By  this  charter,  representative  government  and  trial  by 
jury  became  recognized  rights  in  the  New  World.  Upon 
this  charter,  as  has  been  truly  said,  '  Virginia  erected  the 
superstructure  of  her  liberties.' 

"  The  coming  of  this  charter  marked  an  epoch  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  Jamestown  colony,  and  set  the  pace  for  English- 
speaking  settlements  yet  in  the  future. 

"  It  was  in  very  truth  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  the 
establishment  of  the  great  Republic  which  was  to  be  the 
enduring  beacon-light  of  self-governing  peoples  in  all  future 
ages. 

"  To  a  full  appreciation  of  the  supreme  significance  of  the 
mighty  event  we  to-day  celebrate  and  its  results  —  now  con 
stituting  so  inspiring  a  chapter  of  history  —  some  account 
must  be  taken  of  conditions  then  existing  in  the  mother 
country.  While  obtaining  the  guarantee  of  a  large  measure 
of  self-government  for  the  New  World,  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  and 
his  co-patriots  were  unable  to  secure  that  which  even  sa 
vored  of  liberal  administration  in  the  Old.  James  —  the  first 
of  the  Stuart  Dynasty  —  was  upon  the  English  throne.  In 
narrow,  selfish  state-craft  he  is  possibly  in  the  long  list  of 
sovereigns  without  a  rival.  The  exercise  and  maintenance 
of  royal  prerogative  was  with  him  the  'be  all  and  end  all'  of 
government,  and,  abetted  by  the  sycophants  about  him,  he 
unwittingly  laid  the  train  of  inexorable  events  that  were  to 
culminate  in  the  execution  of  one  and  the  banishment  of 
another  of  his  line.  His  claim  was  that  of  absolute  power, 
and  during  a  reign  of  twenty-two  years  —  extending  from 
the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  the  year  1625  —  he  was  the 
unrelenting  foe  of  whatever  pertained  to  freedom  in  religion 
or  in  government.  His  apparent  indifference  to  the  execu- 


362  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

tion  of  his  mother  —  the  ill-fated  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots  —  and 
his  condemnation  of  the  illustrious  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  to 
the  scaffold,  are  alone  sufficient  to  render  the  memory  of 
this  monarch  forever  infamous.  It  is  a  marvel,  indeed, 
that  with  James  the  First  upon  the  throne,  and  popular  free 
dom  in  such  low  state  throughout  his  immediate  realm,  that 
so  large  a  measure  of  liberty  should  have  been  conceded  to 
the  distant  colony.  The  achievement  is  the  enduring  evi 
dence  of  unsurpassed  courage  in  the  men  in  whose  immedi 
ate  keeping  were  the  early  fortunes  of  the  Virginia  colony, 
and  sheds  unfading  lustre  upon  their  memories. 

"  Nor  can  it  be  forgotten  that  from  the  masterful  hour 
that  witnessed  the  assembling  of  the  first  House  of  Burgesses 
until  the  abdication  of  James  the  Second,  the  welfare  of 
the  Virginia  colony  was  in  large  measure  in  the  iron  grasp 
of  stern  antagonists  to  all  that  pertained  to  liberty  of  con 
science  and  to  popular  rule.  Whatever  there  was  of  prog 
ress  during  the  seventy  years  —  barring  the  brief  period  of 
the  Commonwealth  —  that  immediately  preceded  the  historic 
English  Revolution,  and  the  crowning  of  William  and  Mary, 
was  despite  the  untiring  hostility  of  the  Stuart  Dynasty. 
During  this  period  the  lives  of  Englishmen  at  home  were 
as  the  dust  in  the  balance.  It  witnessed  the  very  heyday 
of  the  infamous  Star  Chamber.  It  was  of  Strafford,  the 
bloody  instrument  (though  wearing  judicial  ermine)  of  Charles 
the  First,  that  Macaulay  said:  'If  justice,  in  the  whole 
range  of  its  wide  armory,  contained  one  weapon  which  could 
pierce  him,  that  weapon  his  pursuers  were  bound,  before 
God  and  man,  to  employ.' 

"  And  for  all  time,  the  Stuart  Dynasty  itself  remains  im 
paled  by  the  pen  of  the  same  master: 

"  'Then  came  those  days  never  to  be  recalled  without  a  blush 
—  the  days  of  servitude  without  loyalty,  and  sensuality  without 
love,  of  dwarfish  talents  and  gigantic  vices,  the  paradise  of  cold 
hearts  and  narrow  minds,  the  golden  age  of  the  coward,  the  bigot, 
and  the  slave.  The  principles  of  liberty  were  the  scoff  of  every 
grinning  courtier,  and  the  anathema  maranatha  of  every  fawn 
ing  dean.  In  every  high  place  worship  was  paid  to  Charles  and 
James  —  Belial  and  Moloch, —  and  England  propitiated  those 


FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA      36S 

obscene  and  cruel  idols  with  the  blood  of  her  best  and  bravest 
children.  Crime  succeeded  to  crime  and  disgrace  to  disgrace, 
until  the  race,  accursed  of  God  and  man,  was  a  second  time  driven 
forth  to  wander  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  to  be  a  byword 
and  a  shaking  of  the  head  to  the  nations/ 

"  It  is  our  pleasing  task  to  turn  now  from  the  dark  annals 
of  our  English  forebears  to  the  stupendous  events  of  which 
that  we  to-day  celebrate  is  the  historical  forecast.  With 
the  passing  years,  a  continuing  tide  of  emigration  was  setting 
in  from  the  Old  to  the  New  World.  Additional  settlements 
had  sprung  into  being,  and  the  Plantation  in  its  distinctive 
sense  had  given  way  to  the  Colony,  to  be  succeeded  yet  later 
by  the  State.  The  glory  of  Jamestown  had  measurably 
departed,  and  to  Williamsburg,  and  yet  later  to  the  now 
splendid  city  upon  the  James,  had  been  transferred  the  seat 
of  Virginia  authority.  New  England,  despite  natural  ob 
stacles  and  constant  peril,  was  surely  working  out  her  large 
place  in  history.  Puritan,  Quaker,  Dutchman,  Cavalier, 
Scotch-Irish,  and  Huguenot  —  4  building  better  than  they 
knew '  —  had  established  permanent  habitations  from  Ply 
mouth  Rock  to  Savannah.  Brave  men  from  the  early  fringe 
of  settlements  upon  the  Atlantic  —  regardless  of  obstacle 
and  danger  —  had  pushed  their  way  westward,  and  laid  the 
sure  foundations  of  future  commonwealths.  From  New 
Hampshire  to  Georgia,  thirteen  English-speaking  colonies, 
with  a  population  aggregating  near  two  millions,  had  at 
tained  to  a  large  measure  of  the  dignity  of  distinctive 
States.  Their  allegiance,  meanwhile,  to  the  mother  country 
had  been  unfaltering,  and  in  her  fierce  struggle  with  France 
for  the  mastery  of  the  continent,  America  had  sealed  her 
loyalty  with  the  best  blood  of  her  sons. 

"The  successors  to  the  first  House  of  Burgesses  had  learned 
well  the  lessons  gleaned  from  the  scant  pages  of  their  earliest 
history.  Attempts  to  tax  the  unrepresented  colonies  soon 
encountered  concerted  hostility.  'No  taxation  without 
representation'  became  the  universal  slogan.  The  words 
spoken  in  the  British  Parliament  by  Barre  —  worthy  com 
rade  of  the  gallant  Wolfe  on  the  Heights  or  Abraham  —  near 


364  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

a  century  and  a  half  after  the  event  we  now  celebrate,  will 
quicken  the  pulses  of  all  coming  generations  of  American 
patriots.  Said  he : 

"'Your  oppressions  planted  them  in  America.  They  fled 
from  your  tyranny  to  a  then  uncultivated,  unhospitable  country 
where  they  exposed  themselves  to  almost  all  the  hardships  to 
which  human  nature  is  liable,  among  others  to  the  cruelties  of  a 
savage  foe;  they  grew  by  your  neglect  of  them.  As  soon  as  you 
began  to  care  for  them,  that  care  was  exercised  in  sending  per 
sons  to  rule  them,  to  spy  out  their  liberties,  to  misrepresent  their 
actions  and  to  prey  upon  them;  men  whose  behavior  on  many 
occasions  has  caused  the  blood  of  those  sons  of  liberty  to  recoil 
within  them;  men  promoted  to  the  highest  seats  of  justice,  some 
who,  to  my  knowledge,  were  glad,  by  going  to  a  foreign  country, 
to  escape  being  brought  to  the  bar  of  a  court  of  justice  in  their 
own.  The  colonists  have  nobly  taken  up  arms  in  your  defence; 
have  asserted  a  valor  amid  their  constant  and  laborious  industry 
for  the  defence  of  a  country  whose  frontier  was  drenched  in 
blood.  And,  believe  me  —  remember,  I  warn  you  —  the  same 
spirit  of  freedom  which  actuated  that  people  at  first  will  accom 
pany  them  still.' 

"  And  how  prophetic  now  seem  the  words  of  Burke  in 
the  same  great  debate: 

" '  There  is  America,  which  at  this  day  serves  for  little  more 
than  to  amuse  you  with  stories  of  savage  men  and  uncouth 
manners,  yet  shall,  before  you  taste  of  death,  show  itself  equal 
to  the  whole  of  that  commerce  which  now  attracts  the  envy 
of  the  world.' 

11  Standing  at  this  hour  almost  within  hailing  distance  of 
the  spot  that  witnessed  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  and  the 
termination  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  it  would  be  passing 
strange  if  we  should  fail  to  catch  something  of  the  inspiration 
of  the  impassioned  words  of  Barre  and  of  Burke,  and  their 
wondrous  associations. 

"  It  is  said  that  in  Venice  there  is  sacredly  preserved  a  letter 
written  by  Columbus  a  few  hours  before  he  sailed  from  Palos. 
With  reverent  expression  of  trust  in  God  —  humbly  but  with 
unfaltering  faith  —  he  spoke  of  his  past  voyage  to  '  that 
famous  land.7  His  dream  while  a  suppliant  in  the  outer 
chambers  of  kings,  and  while  keeping  lonely  vigil  upon  the 


FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA      365 

deep,  was  the  discovery  of  a  new  pathway  to  the  Indies.  Yet 
who  can  doubt  that  to  his  prophetic  soul  was  even  then  fore 
shadowed  something  of  'that  famous  land'  with  the  warp 
and  woof  of  whose  history,  tradition,  and  song  his  name  and 
fame  are  linked  for  all  time.  Can  it  not  truly  be  said  of  the 
members  of  the  first  House  of  Burgesses,  as  was  said  of  Colum 
bus  and  his  compeers,  'They  were  pioneers  in  the  march 
to  independence  —  precursors  in  the  only  progress  of  freedom 
which  was  to  have  no  backward  steps  ?  '  They  only  '  opened 
the  gates'  and  lo!  there  came  in  the  builders  of  a  new  and 
mighty  nation. 

"  Had  it  been  given  to  the  Virginia  —  the  American  - 
legislators  whose  memories  we  honor  this  day,  '  to  look  into 
the  seeds  of  time/  what  mighty  events,  with  the  rolling  years 
and  centuries,  would  have  passed  before  their  visions.  They 
would  have  seen  the  colony  they  had  planted  in  the  wilder 
ness,  day  by  day  strengthening  its  cords,  enlarging  its  borders, 
and  with  firm  tread  advancing  steadily  to  recognized  place 
among  the  nations.  They  would  have  beheld  the  savage  foe 
—  giving  way  before  the  inexorable  advance  of  the  hated 
'pale  face'  —  sadly  retreating  toward  the  ever-receding 
western  verge  of  civilization.  It  would  have  been  theirs  to 
witness  the  symbol  of  French  and  Spanish  authority  disappear 
forever  from  mainland  and  island  of  the  New  World.  Follow 
ing  the  sun  a  thousand  miles  toward  his  setting,  their  eyes 
would  have  been  gladdened  by  the  great  river  flowing  un- 
vexed  from  northern  lake  to  southern  sea  through  a  mighty 
realm  that  knew  no  allegiance  other  than  to  the  government 
that  here  had  its  feeble  beginning.  They  would  —  near  a 
century  and  a  half  later  than  the  meeting  of  the  first  House  of 
Burgesses  —  have  beheld  their  descendants  listening  in  rapt 
attention  to  the  impassioned  denunciation  by  Patrick  Henry 
of  the  tyranny  of  the  royal  successor  of  James  the  First; 
the  thirteen  colonies  arming  for  the  seven  years'  struggle  with 
the  most  powerful  of  nations;  the  presentation,  by  a  Virginian, 
in  the  wondrous  assemblage  at  Philadelphia  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence;  under  the  matchless  leadership  of  a  Vir 
ginian  yet  more  illustrious  than  Jefferson,  the  Colonial  army, 


366  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

with  decimated  ranks  and  tattered  standards,  would  have 
passed  in  review  —  all  past  suffering,  sacrifice,  humiliation, 
and  defeat  forgotten  in  the  hour  of  splendid  triumph.  Yet 
later,  and  in  the  great  convention  over  which  Washington 
presided,  and  in  which  Madison  was  the  chief  factor,  they 
would  have  witnessed  the  deathless  principles  of  the  historic 
Declaration  crystallized  into  the  Federal  compact,  which  was 
destined  forever  to  hold  States  and  people  in  fraternal  union. 
They  would  have  seen  a  gallant  people  of  the  Old  World  — 
catching  inspiration  from  the  New  —  casting  off  the  oppres 
sion  of  centuries  and,  through  baptism  of  blood,  fashioning  a 
Republic  upon  that  whose  liberties  they  had  so  signally  aided 
to  establish.  Yet  later,  and  not  France  alone,  but  Mexcio 
and  States  extending  far  to  the  southward,  substituting  for 
monarchical  rule  that  of  the  people  under  written  Constitu 
tions  modeled  after  that  of  the  great  American  Republic. 
And  yet  more  marvellous,  in  Great  Britain  the  divine  right  of 
kings  an  exploded  dogma;  the  royal  successor  to  the  Stuarts 
and  George  the  Third  only  a  ceremonial  figurehead  in  govern 
ment;  the  House  of  Lords  in  its  death  struggle;  all  real  politi 
cal  power  centred  in  the  Commons,  and  England  —  though 
still  under  the  guise  of  monarchy  —  essentially  a  republic. 
"  And  what  a  grand  factor  Virginia  has  been  in  all  that 
pertains  to  human  government  in  this  Western  world  during 
the  past  three  centuries.  From  the  pen  of  one  of  her  illus 
trious  sons,  George  Mason,  came  the  'Bill  of  Rights7  — 
now  in  its  essentials  embedded  by  the  early  amendments  into 
our  Federal  Constitution;  from  that  of  another,  not  alone  the 
great  Declaration,  but  the  statutes  securing  for  his  own  State 
religious  freedom,  and  the  abolition  of  primogeniture  —  the 
detested  legacy  of  British  ancestors.  His  sword  returned  to 
its  scabbard  with  the  achievement  of  the  independence  of  the 
colonies,  and  the  mission  of  Washington  was  yet  but  half 
accomplished.  To  garner  up  the  fruits  of  successful  revolu 
tion  by  enduring  stable  government  was  the  task  demanding 
the  loftiest  statesmanship.  The  five  years  immediately  suc 
ceeding  our  first  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  have  been 
truly  defined, '  our  period  of  greatest  peril.'  It  was  fortunate, 


FIRST  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  IN  AMERICA      367 

indeed,  that  Washington  was  called  to  preside  over  the  his 
toric  convention  of  '87,  and  that  his  spirit  —  a  yearning  for  an 
indissoluble  union  of  the  States  —  permeated  all  its  delibera 
tions.  Fortunate,  indeed,  that  in  its  councils  was  his  colleague 
and  friend,  the  constructive  statesman,  James  Madison.  In 
separably  associated  for  all  time  with  the  formulation  and  inter 
pretation  of  the  great  covenant  are  the  names  of  two  illustrious 
Virginians — for  all  the  ages  illustrious  Americans — Madison, 
the  father,  and  Marshall,  the  expounder  of  the  Constitution. 

"It  remained  to  another  son  of  this  first  commonwealth, 
from  the  high  place  to  which  he  had  been  chosen,  to  enunciate 
in  trenchant  words,  at  a  crucial  moment,  a  national  policy 
which,  under  the  designation  of  'the  Monroe  doctrine/  has 
been  the  common  faith  of  three  generations  of  his  countrymen 
and  is  to  remain  the  enduring  bar  to  the  establishment  of 
monarchial  government  upon  this  western  hemisphere. 

"  Four  decades  later,  at  the  striking  of  the  hour  that  noted 
the  inevitable  'breaking  with  the  past/  it  remained  to  still 
another  illustrious  successor  of  Jefferson  —  alike  of  Virginian 
ancestry,  and  born  within  her  original  domain  —  by  authori 
tative  proclamation  to  liberate  a  race,  and  thereby,  for  all 
time,  to  give  enlarged  and  grander  meaning  to  our  imperish 
able  declaration  of  human  rights. 

"My  countrymen,  the  little  settlement  planted  just  three 
centuries  ago  near  the  spot  upon  which  we  have  to-day  assem 
bled  has  under  divine  guidance  grown  into  a  mighty  nation. 
Eighty  millions  of  people,  proud  of  local  traditions  and 
achievements,  yet  looking  beyond  the  mere  confines  of  their 
distinctive  commonwealths,  find  their  chief  glory  in  being 
citizens  of  the  great  Republic.  The  mantle  of  peace  is  over 
our  own  land,  and  our  accredited  representatives  in  the 
world's  conference,  at  this  auspicious  hour,  are  outlining  a 
policy  that  looks  to  the  establishment  of  enduring  peace 
among  all  the  nations.  To-day,  inspired  by  the  sublime 
lessons  of  the  event  we  celebrate  and  with  hearts  of  gratitude 
to  God  for  all  he  hath  vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  and  to  us 
in  the  past,  let  us  take  courage,  and  turn  our  faces  hopefully, 
reverently,  trustingly  to  the  future." 


XLIII 
A   NEW   DAY   ADDED   TO   THE    CALENDAR 

THE  HIGH  CHARACTER  OF  STERLING  MORTON  AS  A  MAN  AND  A 
PUBLIC  SERVANT  —  HONORED  BY  CLEVELAND  —  ORIGINATOR 
OF  ARBOR  DAY. 

1  REG  ALL  with  pleasure  years  of  close  personal  friendship 
with  J.  Sterling  Morton.    He  was  a  gentleman  of  lofty 
character  and  recognized  ability.     Much  of  his  life  was 
given  to  the  public  service.    As  Secretary  of  Agriculture 
he  was  in  close  touch  with  President  Cleveland  during  his 
last  official  term. 

At  the  dedication  of  the  monument  erected  to  his  mem 
ory  at  his  home,  Nebraska  City,  October  28,  1905,  I  spoke 
as  follows: 

"  I  count  it  high  privilege  to  speak  a  few  words  upon  an 
occasion  so  fraught  with  interest  to  this  State,  and  to  the 
entire  country.  I  gladly  bear  my  humble  tribute  to  the  man 
whom  I  honored  in  life,  and  whose  memory  I  cherish.  A 
manlier  man  than  Sterling  Morton,  one  more  thoughtful, 
kind,  considerate,  self-reliant,  hopeful,  I  have  not  known. 
Truly  — 

" '  A  man  he  seemed,  of  cheerful  yesterdays, 
And  confident  to-morrows.' 

Of  few  men  could  it  more  truly  be  said,  'He  took  counsel 
ever  of  his  courage  —  never  of  his  fears.'  With  firm  convic 
tions  upon  pending  vital  issues,  he  did  not  shrink  from  the 
conflict.  His  antagonist  he  met  in  the  open.  In  the  words 
of  Lord  Brougham,  'His  weapons  were  ever  those  of  the 
warrior  —  never  of  the  assassin. 

"  This,  is  indeed  no  ordinary  occasion.  Here  and  now, 
we  unveil  a  monument  erected  in  honor  of  the  memory  of 
one  who,  alike  in  private  life  and  in  public  station,  illus 
trated  the  noblest  characteristics  of  the  American  citizen. 
Something  of  his  life  and  achievements  we  have  heard  with 

368 


A  NEW  DAY  ADDED  TO  THE  CALENDAR        369 

profound  interest  from  the  lips  of  the  chosen  orator  of  this 
great  occasion,  ex-President  Cleveland  —  one  indeed  emi 
nently  fitted  for  the  task.  The  orator  was  worthy  the  subject ; 
the  subject  —  honoring  the  memory  of  one  of  the  benefactors 
of  his  age  —  worthy  the  orator. 

"  In  all  the  relations  of  life,  the  man  whose  memory  we 
honor  this  day  was  worthy  the  emulation  of  the  young  men 
who  succeed  him  upon  the  stage  of  the  world.  With  clear 
brain  and  clean  hands  he  ably  and  faithfully  administered 
high  public  trusts.  He  was  in  the  loftiest  sense  worthy  the 
personal  and  official  association  of  the  eminent  Chief  Magis 
trate  at  whose  Council  Board  he  sat,  and  whose  confidence 
he  fully  shared. 

"  Fortune,  indeed,  came  with  both  hands  full  to  Nebraska, 
when  J.  Sterling  Morton,  in  early  manhood,  selected  this 
struggling  frontier  State  for  his  home.  How  well,  and  with 
what  large  interest,  he  repaid  Nebraska  for  a  confidence  that 
knew  no  abatement,  this  noble  monument  is  the  enduring 
witness. 

"  Under  his  guiding  hand,  a  new  day  was  added  to  the 
calendar.  The  glory  is  his  of  having  called  Arbor  Day  into 
being.  Touched  by  his  magic  wand,  millions  of  trees  now 
beautify  and  adorn  this  magnificent  State.  It  is  no  mere 
figure  of  speech  to  say  that  the  wilderness  —  by  transition 
almost  miraculous  —  has  become  a  garden,  the  desolate 
places  been  made  to  blossom  as  the  rose.  'Tree-planting 
day'  is  now  one  of  the  sacred  days  of  this  commonwealth. 
Henceforth,  upon  its  annual  recurrence,  ordinary  avocations 
are  to  be  suspended,  and  this  day  wholly  set  apart  to  pursuits 
which  tend  to  beautify  the  home,  make  glorious  the  landscape, 
and  gladden  the  hearts  of  all  the  people.  Inseparably  asso 
ciated  in  all  the  coming  years  with  this  day  and  its  memories 
will  be  the  name  of  J.  Sterling  Morton.  That  he  was  its 
inspiration,  is  his  abiding  fame. 

"  In  other  times,  monuments  have  been  erected  to  men 
whose  chief  distinction  was,  that  desolation  and  human 
slaughter  had  marked  their  pathways.  The  hour  has  struck, 
and  a  new  era  dawned.  The  monument  we  now  unveil  is  to 


370          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

one  whose  name  brings  no  thoughts  of  decimated  ranks,  or 
of  desolated  provinces,  no  memories  of  beleagured  cities,  of 
starving  peoples,  or  of  orphans7  tears.  In  all  the  years,  it 
will  be  associated  with  glorious  peace.  Peace,  'that  hath 
her  victories  no  less  renowned  than  war7;  peace,  in  whose 
train  are  happy  homes,  songs  of  rejoicing,  the  glad  laughter 
of  children,  the  planting  of  trees,  and  the  golden  harvest. 

'Soft  peace  she  brings;  wherever  she  arrives, 
She  builds  our  quiet  as  she  forms  our  lives; 
Lays  the  rough  paths  of  peevish  nature  even, 
And  opens  in  each  heart  a  little  heaven.'  " 


XLIV 
A   MOUNTAIN   COLLEGE 

SUCH    INSTITUTIONS    VALUABLE     FOR     MOULDING     CHARACTER 

MR.   SCOTT   BOTH   HONORABLE   AND   PRUDENT  IN   BUSINESS 

HIS  GREATNESS  AS  AN  AGRICULTURIST  —  HIS  AVOIDANCE  OF 
PUBLIC  LIFE  —  HIS  SOCIAL  AND  DOMESTIC  VIRTUES DEPEN 
DENCE  OF  THE  NATION  ON  THE  CHARACTER  OF  ITS  LITERARY 
INSTITUTIONS. 

IN  1895,  Mrs.  Julia  Green  Scott,  of  Bloomington,  Illinois, 
established  a  college  in  the  mountains  of  Kentucky  in 
honor  of  the  memory  of  her  husband.  He  was  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  and  the  institution  bears  his  honored  name. 
Upon  the  occasion  of  the  dedication  I  spoke  as  follows: 
"The  dedication  of  the  Matthew  T.  Scott,  Jr.,  Collegiate 
Institute  marks  an  important  epoch  in  the  history  of  central 
eastern  Kentucky.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  this  institu 
tion  will  be  potent  for  good  in  moulding  the  character  and 
fitting  the  youth  of  this  and  succeeding  generations  for  the 
important  duties  that  pertain  to  citizenship  in  a  great  Re 
public.  Is  it  too  much  to  believe  that  this  may  be  reckoned 
as  one  of  the  many  agencies  in  this  land,  that  in  the  out 
stretched  years  will  inspire  our  youth  with  yet  higher  ideals  of 
advancement  —  nobler  conceptions,  it  may  be,  of  the  grave 
duties  that  await  them  in  life?  Would  that  the  words  I  now 
repeat  of  one  of  England's  great  statesmen  could  be  indelibly 
impressed  upon  the  memory  of  all  who  may  hereafter  pass 
out  from  these  walls:  'Be  inspired  with  the  belief  that  life 
is  a  great  and  noble  calling;  not  a  mean  and  grovelling  thing 
that  we  are  to  shuffle  through  as  we  can,  but  an  elevated  and 
lofty  destiny.' 

"  It  is  eminently  fitting  to  this  occasion,  that  I  recall  some 
thing  of  the  man  whose  honored  name  has  been  appropriately 
given  to  this  institution.  And  yet,  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  if  in  life  he  would  shrink  from  public  mention  of 

371 


372  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

his  name,  or  of  aught  associated  with  it  in  the  way  of  bene 
factions.  He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky  —  born  in  Fayette 
County,  February  4,  1828.  His  father,  of  the  same  name, 
was  an  honored  citizen  of  Lexington,  and  for  many  years  the 
leading  banker  of  the  State.  The  son  inherited  the  high  sense 
of  personal  honor,  and  the  splendid  capacity  for  business,  that 
for  a  lifetime  so  eminently  characterized  his  father.  A 
graduate  of  Centre  College  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  his  fortunes 
were  soon  cast  in  Central  Illinois,  where  his  remaining  years 
were  spent,  and  where  his  ashes  now  repose.  During  his 
early  residence  in  Illinois  Mr.  Scott  realized  —  as  few  men  did 
fully  at  that  day  —  the  marvellous  prosperity  that  surely 
awaited  the  development  of  the  resources  of  that  great  State. 
It  was  the  day  of  golden  opportunity  for  the  man  of  wise 
forecast.  His  investments  were  timely;  his  business  methods 
all  upon  the  highest  plane.  He  became  in  time  a  large  landed 
proprietor,  and  stood  in  the  van  of  the  advanced  agricultu 
rists  of  his  day.  He  formulated  enduring  systems  of  tilling 
the  soil,  and  making  sure  the  munificent  rewards  of  labor 
wisely  bestowed  upon  this,  the  primal  calling  of  man.  His 
methods  were  in  large  measure  adopted  by  others,  and  have 
proved  no  unimportant  factor  in  the  development  and  pros 
perity  of  the  great  agricultural  interests  of  the  State. 

"  Mr.  Scott  was  in  the  largest  sense  a  man  of  affairs.  He 
was  ever  the  safe  counsellor  in  the  many  business  enterprises 
of  which  he  was  the  founder.  It  were  scant  praise  to  say  he 
was  possessed  of  the  highest  integrity.  His  was  indeed  an 
integrity  that  could  know  no  temptation.  Faithful  to  every 
obligation,  he  was  incapable  of  an  ignoble  act.  He  was  emi 
nently  a  just  man,  possessing  in  a  marked  degree  the  sturdy 
characteristics  of  his  Scotch-Irish  ancestors.  His  principle 
in  action  was: 

'For  justice  all  place  a  temple, 
And  all  season  Summer/ 

"  He  was  in  no  sense  a  self-seeker.  Deeply  interested  in 
public  affairs,  and  having  the  courage  of  his  convictions  upon 
the  exciting  questions  of  the  day,  he  was  never  a  candidate 


MATTHEW   T.  SCOTT 


ADLAI  E.  STEVENSON 


A  MOUNTAIN  COLLEGE  373 

for  public  office.  Declining  the  nomination  tendered  him 
by  his  party  for  Congress,  he  chose  the  quiet  of  home  rather 
than  the  turmoil  of  public  life.  In  the  advocacy,  however, 
of  what  he  believed  to  be  for  the  public  weal,  'he  took  counsel 
ever  of  his  courage,  never  of  his  fears.'  That  he  possessed 
the  ability  to  have  acquitted  himself  with  honor  in  respon 
sible  positions  of  public  trust,  no  one  who  knew  him  could 
doubt. 

"Courteous  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  he  was 
the  highest  type  of  the  old-school  gentleman.  He -exemplified 
in  his  daily  life  the  truth  of  the  poet's  words: 

'That  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love.' 

"  No  man  ever  had  a  loftier  appreciation  of  what  was  due 
to  woman.  There  was  in  very  truth  a  relish  of  old-time 
chivalry  in  his  bearing  in  the  presence  of  ladies.  He  was  never 
happier  than  when  surrounded  by  children,  by  whom  he  was 
ever  trusted  and  loved. 

"No  higher  tribute  could  be  paid  him  than  by  the  words 
spoken  with  equal  truth  of  another:  'With  him  the  assured 
guardian  of  my  children,  I  could  have  pillowed  my  head  in 
peace.' 

"  Holding  steadily,  and  without  reservation,  to  the  Pres 
byterian  faith  of  his  fathers,  he  was  none  the  less  imbued 
with  a  true  catholic  spirit,  and  gave  where  needed,  liberally 
of  his  abundance.  He  was  deeply  touched  by  every  tale  of 
human  sorrow, 

'  His  hand  open  as  day  to  melting  charity.' 

"I  may  be  pardoned  for  adding  that  Mr.  Scott  was  su 
premely  happy  in  his  domestic  ties.  Blessed  in  all  who 
gathered  about  his  hearthstone,  his  cup  of  happiness  was  full 
to  overflowing.  All  who  crossed  his  threshold  felt  that  they 
were  indeed  in  the  sunshine  of  the  perfect  home.  He  sleeps 
in  the  beautiful  cemetery  near  the  city  he  loved,  his  grave 
covered  with  flowers  by  those  to  whom  in  life  he  had  been  a 
benefactor  and  friend.  To  those  to  whom  his  toils  and  cares 


574  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

were  given,  to  kindred  and  friends,  his  memory  will  ever  be  a 
precious  heritage.     Truly, 

'The  just 
Keeps  something  of  his  glory,  in  his  dust.' 

"  I  know  of  no  words  more  fitting  with  which  to  close  this 
poor  tribute  to  the  man  I  honored  and  loved,  than  those  of 
Dr.  Craig  in  his  beautiful  eulogy  upon  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lewis  W. 
Green,  father  of  Mrs.  Julia  G.  Scott,  the  noble  and  gifted 
woman  whose  generosity  has  made  possible  the  founding  of 
the  Institution  we  now  dedicate: 

" '  Society  at  large  felt  the  impress  of  his  noble  character,  his 
polished  breeding,  and  his  widespread  beneficence.  His  deter 
mination  to  excel,  and  that  by  means  of  faithful  diligence  and 
laborious  application,  should  arouse  our  young  men  to  like  fidel 
ity  to  their  increasing  opportunities.  He  was  the  most  unselfish 
of  men,  the  most  affectionate  of  friends,  the  humblest  of  Chris 
tians.  He  owed  much  to  the  soil  from  which  he  sprung.  He 
repaid  that  much,  and  with  large  interest.' 

"  The  Institution  we  now  dedicate  is  just  upon  the  thres 
hold  of  what  we  trust  will  prove  an  abundantly  useful  and 
honorable  career.  And  while  we  may  not  'look  into  the 
seeds  of  time  and  say  which  grain  will  grow  and  which  will 
not,'  yet  we  may  well  believe  that  under  judicious  manage 
ment,  already  assured,  this  will  prove  a  potent  agency  in  the 
great  work  of  education. 

"In  this  connection  the  words  of  a  former  President  of 
Transylvania  University,  and  of  Centre  College,  Dr.  Green, 
possess  to-day  as  deep  significance  as  when  uttered  almost 
a  half-century  ago : 

"  'But  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  no  domestic  instruction, 
however  wise,  no  political  institution,  however  free,  no  social 
organization,  however  perfect,  no  discoveries  of  science,  however 
rapid  or  sublime,  no  activity  of  the  press  —  pouring  forth  with 
prolific  abundance  its  multitudinous  publications  —  no  accumu 
lation  of  ancient  learning  in  stately  libraries,  no  one,  nor  all  of 
these  together,  can  supersede  the  education  of  the  school;  nay, 
all  of  them  derive  their  noblest  elements  and  highest  life  from 
the  instruction  of  the  living  teacher.  The  intelligence  of  families, 
the  wisdom  of  Governments,  the  freedom  of  nations,  the  progress 
of  science  itself,  and  of  all  our  useful  arts,  is  measured  by  the  con- 


A  MOUNTAIN  COLLEGE  375 

dition  and  character  of  our  literary  institutions.  .  .  .  It  is 
from  such  as  these,  that  the  world's  great  men  have  sprung.  It 
is  from  the  deep,  granite  foundations  of  society  that  the  materials 
are  gathered  to  rear  a  superstructure  of  massive  grandeur  and 
enduring  strength.  The  God  of  nature  has  scattered  broadcast 
over  all  our  land  and  our  mountain  heights,  in  our  secluded 
valleys,  and  in  many  a  forest  home,  the  choicest  elements  of 
genius;  invaluable  means  of  intellectual  wealth,  the  noblest 
treasures  of  the  State.' 

"  The  hour  has  struck,  and  the  Matthew  T.  Scott,  Jr., 
Collegiate  Institute  enters  now  upon  its  sacred  mission. 

"  May  we  not  believe  that  here  will  be  realized  in  full  frui 
tion  the  fond  hopes  of  those  who  have  given  it  being?  that 
as  the  years  come  and  go,  there  will  pass  out  from  its  walls 
those  who  by  diligent  application  are  fitted  for  the  responsible 
duties  that  await  them  in  life,  well  equipped,  it  may  be,  to 
acquit  themselves  with  honor,  in  the  high  places  of  school,  of 
church,  or  of  State?  " 


XLV 
DEDICATION   OF   A   NATIONAL   PARK 

CHICKAMAUGA  NATIONAL  PARK  DEDICATED  BY  ACT  OF  CONGRESS  — 
THE  SURVIVORS  OF  THE  GREAT  BATTLE  NOW  BUT  FEW  —  THE 
REAL  CONSECRATION  WAS  ACCOMPLISHED  BY  THE  HEROES  OF 
THE  FIGHT. 

fTlHE  Chickamauga  National  Park  was  by  act  of  Congress 

J[     dedicated  September   19,  1895.    Senators  Palmer,  of 

Illinois,  and  Gordon,  of  Georgia,  were  the  orators  of  the 

occasion.    The  immense  audience  assembled  included  the 

Governors  of  twenty  States  and  committees  of  both  Houses 

of  Congress.    I  presided  on  the  occasion,  and  delivered  the 

following  address: 

"I  am  honored  by  being  called  to  preside  over  the  cere 
monies  of  this  day.  By  solemn  decree  of  the  representatives 
of  the  American  people,  this  magnificent  Park,  with  its  won 
drous  associations  and  memories,  is  now  to  be  dedicated  for 
all  time  to  national  and  patriotic  purposes. 

"  This  is  the  fitting  hour  for  the  august  ceremonies  we  now 
inaugurate.  To-day,  by  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  the  Chickamauga  and  Chattanooga  National  Military 
Park  is  forever  set  apart  from  all  common  uses,  solemnly 
dedicated  for  all  the  ages  to  all  the  American  people. 

"The  day  is  auspicious.  It  notes  the  anniversary  of  one 
of  the  greatest  battles  known  to  history.  Here,  in  the  dread 
tribunal  of  last  resort,  valor  contended  against  valor.  Here 
brave  men  struggled  and  died  for  the  right, '  as  God  gave  them 
to  see  the  right.' 

"  Thirty-two  years  have  passed,  and  the  few  survivors  of 
that  masterful  day  —  victors  and  vanquished  alike  —  again 
meet  upon  this  memorable  field.  Alas,  the  splendid  armies 
which  rendezvoused  here  are  now  little  more  than  a  procession 
of  shadows. 

376 


DEDICATION   OF   A   NATIONAL   PARK  377 

"  '  On  fame's  eternal  camping-ground, 
Their  silent  tents  are  spread.' 

"  Our  eyes  now  behold  the  sublime  spectacle  of  the  honored 
survivors  of  the  great  battle  coming  together  upon  these 
heights  once  more.  They  meet,  not  in  deadly  conflict,  but 
as  brothers,  under  one  flag,  fellow-citizens  of  a  common 
country,  all  grateful  to  God,  that  in  the  supreme  struggle, 
the  Government  of  our  fathers  —  our  common  heritage  — 
was  triumphant,  and  that  to  all  the  coming  generations 
of  our  countrymen,  it  will  remain  '  an  indivisible  union  of 
indestructible  States.' 

"Our  dedication  to-day  is  but  a  ceremony.  In  the  words 
of  the  immortal  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg:  'But  in  a  larger 
sense,  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot 
hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men  living  and  dead,  who 
struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to 
add  or  detract.' 

"I  will  detain  you  no  longer  from  listening  to  the  eloquent 
words  of  those  who  were  participants  in  the  bloody  struggle  — 
the  sharers  alike  in  its  danger  and  its  glory." 


XLVI 
A   BAR   MEETING   STILL    IN    SESSION 

APPOINTMENT  OF  A  COMMITTEE  TO  FORMULATE  RULES  FOR  COURT 
PROCEDURE  —  SOME    MEMBERS    AGREE    TO    VOTE    DOWN    THE 

MOTION  TO  ADJOURN THE  MOTION  REJECTED  THREE  TIMES 

—  INDIGNATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

A  BAR  meeting  recalled  by  the  mention  of  Mr.  Ingersoll 
would  be  worth  while  if  it  could  only  be  described  as  it 
actually  occurred. 

At  the  opening  of  the  December  term  of  the  Circuit  Court 
in  Woodford  in  the  year  of  grace  'fifty-nine,  John  Clark,  Esq., 
announced  that  a  meeting  of  the  Bar  would  be  held  at  the 
courthouse  at  " early  candle-lighting"  on  that  very  evening, 
for  the  purpose  of  formulating  rules  to-  be  presented  to  the 
Court  for  its  government  during  the  term. 

At  the  appointed  hour,  the  lawyers,  "home  and  foreign/' 
being  promptly  in  attendance  and  the  court-room  crowded, 
an  organization  was  duly  effected  by  the  election  of  Colonel 
Shope,  an  able  and  dignified  barrister  of  the  old  school,  as 
President.  As  undisputed  spokesman  of  the  occasion,  Mr. 
Clark,  at  once  moved  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  five 
to  prepare  the  aforementioned  rules.  The  motion  prevailing, 
nem.  con.,  in  accordance  with  time-honored  usage,  the  mover 
of  the  resolution  was  duly  appointed  Chairman,  with  Ingersoll, 
Shaw,  Ewing,  and  the  chronicler  of  these  important  events 
as  his  coadjutors.  Upon  the  retirement  of  the  committee, 
the  rules  already  prepared  by  Clark  were  read  and  promptly 
approved,  and  that  gentleman  instructed  to  present  them  to 
the  Bar  meeting  —  then  in  patient  waiting. 

As  the  recognized  parliamentarian  of  the  occasion  —  with 
the  proposed  rules  in  safe  keeping  —  was  in  the  van,  upon  the 
return  to  the  court-room  Ingersoll  quietly  proposed  to  his 
three  untitled  associates  that,  after  the  adoption  of  the  reso 
lutions,  we  should  vote  down  Clark's  motion  to  adjourn  and 

378 


A  BAR  MEETING  STILL  IN  SESSION  379 

thereby  remain  all  night  in  session.  In  approved  form,  and 
with  a  dignity  that  would  have  done  no  discredit  to  a  high- 
church  bishop,  the  rules  were  read  off  by  the  Chairman  and 
agreed  to  without  a  dissenting  voice. 

After  a  brief  silence,  Mr.  Clark  arose  and  said:  "Mr.  Presi 
dent,  if  there  is  no  further  business  before  this  meeting,  I 
move  we  do  now  adjourn."  The  motion  was  duly  seconded 
by  Welcome  P.  Brown,  who  had  been  Probate  Judge  of 
McLean  County  far  back  in  the  thirties,  and  postmaster  of  the 
struggling  village  of  Bloomington  when  Jackson  was  Presi 
dent.  President  Shope  promptly  arose  and  in  the  blandest 
possible  terms  submitted:  " Gentlemen  of  the  Bar,  all  who 
are  in  favor  of  the  motion  to  adjourn  will  please  say,  Aye." 
Clark,  Brown,  and  a  half-dozen  others  at  once  voted,  "  Aye." 
" Those  opposed  to  the  motion  to  adjourn  will  please  say, 
No,"  was  the  alternative  then  submitted  by  the  impartial 
presiding  officer.  Ingersoll,  his  confederates,  and  a  sufficient 
contingent  won  over  quietly  voted,  "No."  "The  motion  is 
lost,"  observed  the  President,  resuming  his  seat.  "What  is 
the  further  pleasure  of  the  meeting?"  The  silence  of  the 
grave  for  a  time  prevailed,  Ingersoll  and  his  followers  deport 
ing  themselves  with  a  solemnity  well  befitting  an  occasion 
for  prayer.  Again  arising,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  — 
in  a  voice  less  rotund  than  before  —  said:  "Well,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  if  there  is  no  further  business  before  this  meeting,  I  move 
we  do  now  adjourn."  Duly  seconded,  the  motion  was 
again  put,  Clark  and  half  a  dozen  others  voting  as  before. 
"Those  opposed,"  remarked  the  President  —  in  tones  per 
ceptibly  less  conciliatory  than,  an  hour  earlier  —  "will  say, 
No."  The  scarcely  audible,  but  none  the  less  effective  "No" 
prevailed,  the  leader  meanwhile  giving  no  sign  and  apparently 
rapt  as  if  unravelling  the  mysteries  beyond  the  veil. 

A  silence  that  could  be  felt  now  in  very  truth  fell  upon  the 
meeting  in  the  old  courthouse  assembled.  Even  the  by 
standers  seemed  impressed  that  something  far  out  of  the 
ordinary  was  happening. 

Receiving  little  in  the  way  of  encouragement,  the  Chair 
man  of  the  late  committee,  as  he  dubiously  looked  around 


380  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

upon  the  forms  of  the  silent  majority  —  each  of  whom  sat 
apparently  buried  in  thought  that  touched  the  very  depths, — 
again  and  for  the  last  time  addressed  the  presiding  officer : 

"Mr.  President,  I  move  that  we  adjourn" 

Conclusions  being  again  tried  in  wonted  parliamentary 
form  between  the  opposing  forces,  with  like  result  as  before, 
the  venerable  president, —  by  way  of  prelude  first  giving  full 
vent  to  an  exclamation  nowhere  to  be  found  in  the  Methodist 
"book  of  discipline," —  at  once  indignantly  vacated  the  chair, 
and  literally  shook  the  dust  of  the  court-room  from  his  feet. 
The  others  "stood  not  upon  the  order  of  their  going/'  and 
although  fifty  years  have  come  and  gone,  that  identical  Bar 
meeting  in  the  old  courthouse  at  Metamora  is  still  in  session, 
—  never  having  been  officially  adjourned  even  to  this  day. 


XLVII 
THE   HAYNE-WEBSTER   DEBATE   RECALLED 

THE  PUBLIC  CAREER  OF  LYMAN  TRUMBULL HE  HEARS  CALHOUN 

MAKE    A   MASTERLY   SPEECH    IN    HIS    OWN    DEFENCE TARIFF 

LAW    THE    SUBJECT    OF    DISCUSSION  —  MR.    HAYNE'S    REPLY. 

EX-SENATOR  LYMAN  TRUMBULL  called  upon  me 
at  the  Vice-President's  Chamber  a  few  months  before 
his  death.  It  was  upon  the  occasion  of  his  last  visit 
to  Washington.  He  pointed  out  to  me  with  much  interest 
the  seat  he  had  occupied  for  many  years  in  the  Senate. 
The  Senators  to  whom  I  introduced  him  had  all  come  in 
since  his  day.  His  associates  in  that  chamber,  with  three 
or  four  exceptions,  had  passed  beyond  the  veil. 

The  public  career  of  Mr.  Trumbull  began  nearly  two-thirds 
of  a  century  ago.  He  was  distinguished  as  a  judge,  and  later 
as  an  able  and  active  participant  in  exciting  debates  in  the 
Senate,  extending  from  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
to  the  impeachment  of  President  Johnson.  He  was  a  mem 
ber  when  the  sessions  of  the  Senate  were  held  in  the  old  cham 
ber,  and  Cass,  Crittenden,  Douglas,  Tombs,  and  Jefferson 
Davis  were  among  his  early  official  associates.  As  Chairman 
of  the  Judiciary  Committee  he  had  reported  the  Thirteenth 
and  Fourteenth  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

In  the  course  of  my  conversation  with  him  upon  the 
occasion  first  mentioned,  I  inquired  whether  he  had  ever  met 
either  Webster,  Clay,  or  Calhoun.  He  replied  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  deep  regret  to  him  that  he  had  never  seen  either 
Clay  or  Webster,  but  that  he  had  in  his  early  manhood  heard 
a  masterful  speech  from  Mr.  Calhoun.  Mr.  Trumbull  had 
then  just  been  graduated  from  an  eastern  college;  and  on  his 
way  to  Greenville,  Georgia,  to  take  charge  of  a  school,  he 
spent  a  few  days  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  This  was 
in  1833,  and  the  speech  of  Mr.  Calhoun  was  in  vindication  of 

381 


382  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

his  course  in  the  Senate  in  voting  for  the  Compromise  Bill  of 
Mr.  Clay,  which  provided  for  the  gradual  reduction  of  the 
tariff.  The  alleged  injustice  of  the  tariff  law  then  in  force 
had  been  the  prime  cause  of  the  " nullification"  excitement 
precipitated  by  South  Carolina  at  that  eventful  period.  The 
proclamation  of  President  Jackson,  it  will  be  remembered, 
proved  the  death-blow,  and  the  nullification  excitement  soon 
thereafter  subsided.  Mr.  Trumbull  told  me  he  distinctly 
recalled  John  C.  Calhoun,  his  commanding  presence  and 
splendid  argument,  as  he  addressed  the  large  assemblage.  As 
a  clear-brained  logician  —  whose  statement  alone  was  almost 
unanswerable  argument  —  he  thought  Mr.  Calhoun  unsur 
passed  by  any  statesman  our  country  had  known.  Mr. 
Trumbull  added  that  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  speech 
before  mentioned,  amid  great  enthusiasm,  "Hayne!  Hayne!" 
was  heard  from  every  part  of  the  vast  assemblage.  For  an 
hour  or  more  he  then  listened  spell-bound  to  Robert  Y. 
Hayne,  the  formidable  antagonist  even  of  Webster  in  a 
debate  now  historic.  Mr.  Trumbull  said  that  of  the  two 
generations  of  public  men  he  had  heard,  he  had  never  list 
ened  to  one  more  eloquent  than  Hayne. 


LYMAN   TRUMBULL 


XLVIII 
IN  THE   HIGHLANDS 

THE  WRITER  THE  GUEST  OF  A  GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  SCOTTISH 
HIGHLANDS  —  DUNSTAFFNAGE  CASTLE  —  IONA  AND  SAINT 
COLUMBA  —  SENATOR  BECK  AND  MR.  SMITH  BOTH  DEVOTEES 
OF  BURNS. 

DURING  a  sojourn  of  some  weeks  on  the  western  coast 
of  Scotland,  I  was  the  guest  for  a  time  of  Mr.  Stewart, 
the  head  of  what  remained  of  a  once  powerful  clan 
in  the  Highlands.  My  host  was  a  distinguished  member  of 
the  London  Bar,  but  spent  his  Summers  at  the  home  of  his 
ancestors  a  few  miles  out  from  Alpin.  Here,  in  as  romantic 
a  locality  as  is  known  even  to  the  Highlands,  with  his  kin 
dred  about  him  he  enjoyed  a  full  measure  of  repose  from 
the  distracting  cares  of  the  great  metropolis.  At  the  time 
of  my  visit  his  brother,  an  officer  of  the  British  army,  just 
returned  from  India,  was  with  him.  Both  gentlemen  wore 
kilts  for  the  time;  and  all  the  appointments  of  the  house 
were  reminders  of  bygone  centuries  when  border  warfare 
was  in  full  flower,  forays  upon  the  Lowlands  of  constant  oc 
currence,  and  the  principle  of  the  clans  in  action, 

"  Let  him  take  who  has  the  power 
And  let  him  hold  who  can." 

At  the  bountifully  furnished  board  of  my  Highland  host 
there  was  much  "upon  the  plain  highway  of  talk"  I  will 
not  soon  forget.  And  then,  with  the  gathering  shadows  in 
the  ancestral  hall,  with  the  rude  weapons  of  past  genera 
tions  hanging  upon  every  wall,  and  the  stirring  strains  of 
the  bagpipe  coming  from  the  distance,  it  was  worth  while 
to  listen  to  the  Highland  legends  that  had  been  handed 
down  from  sire  to  son. 

Not  far  away  was  the  old  castle  of  Dunstaffnage,  which 
in  its  prime  had  been  the  scene  of  innumerable  tournaments 

383 


384  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  battles  that  have  added  many  pages  to  Scottish  annals. 
Within  the  enclosure  of  the  old  castle  sleeps  the  dust  of  long- 
ago  kings  —  the  veritable  grave  of  Macbeth  being  readily 
pointed  out  to  inquiring  travellers. 

The  conversation  around  the  hearthstone  of  my  host 
turned  to  the  famous  island  of  the  Inner  Hebrides,  lona, 
with  its  wonderful  history  reaching  back  to  the  sixth  cen 
tury.  The  ruins  of  the  old  monastery,  built  fourteen  hun 
dred  years  ago  by  the  fugitive  Saint,  Columba,  are  well 
worth  visiting.  The  dust  of  the  early  kings  of  Norway, 
Ireland,  and  Scotland  rest  within  these  ancient  walls,  and  it 
is  gratifying  to  know  that  here  even  the  ill-fated  Duncan 

"  After  life's  fitful  fever  sleeps  well." 

It  would  have  been  passing  strange,  with  host  and  guests 
all  of  Scottish  lineage,  if  there  had  been  no  mention  of  Rob 
bie  Burns,  for  in  old  Scotia,  whether  in  palace  or  hovel,  the 
one  subject  that  never  tires  is  the  " ploughman  poet  of  Ayr/' 
A  little  incident  of  slightly  American  relish  which  I  related 
the  evening  of  my  departure  needed  no  "  surgical  opera tion" 
to  find  appropriate  lodgment. 

Senator  Beck  of  Kentucky  was  a  Scotchman.  He  was 
in  the  highest  sense  a  typical  Scotchman  —  lacking  nothing, 
either  of  the  brawn,  brain,  or  brogue,  of  the  most  gifted  of 
that  race.  It  is  needless  to  say  he  was  a  lover  of  Burns. 
From  "Tarn  O'Shanter"  to  "Mary  in  Heaven,"  all  were 
safely  garnered  in  his  memory  —  to  be  rolled  out  in  rich, 
melodious  measure  at  the  opportune  moment.  The  close 
friend  and  associate  of  Senator  Beck,  when  the  cares  of  State 
were  for  a  time  in  abeyance,  and  the  fishing  season  at  its 
best,  was  "  old  Smith,"  superintendent  of  the  Botanical 
Gardens,  also  a  Scotchman,  and  likewise  in  intense  degree 
a  devotee  of  Burns.  The  bond  of  union  between  the  man  of 
flowers  and  the  Kentucky  statesman  was  complete. 

Now,  it  so  fell  out  that  a  newly  elected  member  of  the 
House,  from  the  Green  River  district,  one  day  called  upon 
his  distinguished  colleague  of  the  Senate,  and  requested  a 
note  of  introduction  to  the  superintendent  of  the  Botanical 


IN  THE  HIGHLANDS  385 

Gardens,  as  he  wished  to  procure  some  flowers  to  send  a 
lady  constituent  then  in  the  city.  "Certainly,  certainly," 
replied  the  ever-obliging  statesman;  "I  will  give  you  a  line  to 
old  Smith."  Just  as  the  delighted  member  was  departing 
with  the  letter  in  hand,  Senator  Beck  remarked,  in  his  pecu 
liarly  snappy  Scotch  accent,  "  Now,  Tom,  if  you  will  only 
tell  old  Smith  that  you  are  a  great  admirer  of  his  country 
man,  Robbie  Burns,  he  will  give  you  all  the  flowers  in  the 
conservatory."  The  member,  who  knew  as  little  of  Burns 
as  he  did  of  the  "  thirty-nine  articles,"  departed  in  high 
feather. 

Almost  immediately  thereafter,  presenting  his  letter, 
he  was  received  with  great  cordiality  by  the  superintendent 
and  assured  that  any  request  of  Senator  Beck  would  be  cheer 
fully  granted.  Just  as  he  was  reaching  out  for  the  fragrant 
bouquet  the  superintendent  was  graciously  presenting,  the 
closing  words  of  the  Senator  were  indistinctly  recalled,  and 
in  manner  indicating  no  small  measure  of  self-confidence, 
the  member  remarked,  "By  the  way,  Mr.  Smith,  I  am  a 
great  admirer  of  your  countryman,  Jimmy  Burns."  "Jim 
my  Burns!  Jimmy  Burns!  Jimmy  Burns!"  exclaimed  the 
overwhelmingly  indignant  Scotchman,  "Jimmy  Burns!  De 
part  instantly,  sir!" 

The  member  from  the  Green  River  district  departed  as 
bidden,  taking  no  thought  of  the  flowers;  delighted  —  as  he 
often  asseverated  —  to  have  escaped  even  with  his  life. 


XLIX 
ANECDOTES   OF  LAWYERS 

JUDGE  BALDWIN'S  BOOK,  "  THE  FLUSH  TIMES  "  —  DEFENDANT'S 
COUNSEL  ASKS  ONE  QUESTION  TOO  MANY  —  CIRCUMSTANTIAL 
EVIDENCE  AGAINST  A  CARD-PLAYER  —  JOHN  RANDOLPH'S  RE 
VENGE  —  HORACE  GREELEY  NOT  A  MINISTER  OF  THE  GOSPEL 
—  A  CANDIDATE'S  QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  SCHOOL-TEACHING  — 
THE  AUTHOR  OF  "DON'T  YOU  REMEMBER  SWEET  ALICE, 
BEN  BOLT?"  —  A  CANDIDATE'S  POSITION  WITH  REGARD  TO 
THE  MAINE  LAW  —  GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  POPULARITY  —  MR. 
TRAVER8  MISSES  A  PORTRAIT  —  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  HOLY 
ORDERS  TELLS  A  BIBLE  STORY. 

NO  better  place  can  be  found  for  studying  that  most  in 
teresting  of  subjects,  Man,  than  in  our  courts  of  jus 
tice.  Indeed,  what  a  readable  book  that  would  be 
which  related  the  best  things  which  have  occurred  at  the  bar! 

Judge  Baldwin  conferred  an  inestimable  blessing  upon 
our  profession  when  he  wrote  "The  Flush  Times/'  a  book 
that  will  hold  a  place  in  our  literature  as  long  as  there  is  a 
lawyer  left  on  earth.  To  two  generations  of  our  craft  this  book 
has  furnished  agreeable  and  delightful  entertainment.  To 
the  practitioner  "  shattered  with  the  contentions  of  the  great 
hall/'  its  pages  have  been  as  refreshing  as  the  oasis  to  the 
travel-stained  pilgrim. 

The  late  Justice  Field,  long  his  associate  upon  the  su 
preme  bench  of  California,  told  me  that  Judge  Baldwin  was 
one  of  the  most  genial  and  delightful  men  he  had  ever 
known,  and  certainly  he  must  have  been  to  have  written 
"Cave  Burton,"  "My  First  Appearance  at  the  Bar/'  "A 
Hung  Court,"  and  "Ovid  Bolus,  Esq.,  Attorney-at-law  and 
Solicitor  in  Chancery." 

Almost  every  Bar  has  some  tradition  or  incident  worth 
preserving  —  something  in  the  way  of  brilliant  witticism  or 
repartee  that  should  not  be  wholly  lost.  Of  the  race  of  old- 
time  lawyers  —  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  splendid  type  — 

386 


ANECDOTES  OF  LAWYERS  387 

but  few  remain.  Of  the  survivors,  I  know  of  no  better  repre 
sentative  than  Proctor  Knott  of  Kentucky.  The  possessor 
of  ability  of  the  highest  order,  and  of  splendid  attainments  as 
well,  he  is  of  all  men  the  best  story-teller  this  country  of  ours 
has  known.  Among  his  delighted  auditors  in  and  out  of 
Congress  have  been  men  from  every  section  and  of  exalted 
public  station.  For  some  of  the  incidents  to  be  related  I  am 
indebted  to  Governor  Knott.  The  obligation  would  be  much 
greater  if  the  stories  could  be  retold  in  manner  and  form  as 
in  days  gone  by,  and  upon  occasions  never  to  be  forgotten 
when  they  fell  from  his  own  lips. 

If,  however,  even  fairly  well  I  might  garner  up  and  hand 
down  some  of  the  experiences  of  the  generation  of  lawyers 
now  passing,  I  would  feel  that  I  had,  in  some  humble  meas 
ure,  discharged  that  obligation  that  Lord  Bacon  says,  "every 
man  owes  to  his  profession." 

ONE  QUESTION  TOO    MANY 

What  lawyer  has  not,  at  some  time,  in  the  trial  of  a  case 
asked  just  one  question  too  many?  I  know  of  nothing  bet 
ter  along  that  line  of  inquiry  than  the  following  related  by 
Governor  Knott.  He  was  attending  the  Circuit  Court  in 
one  of  the  Green  River  counties  in  Kentucky,  when  the  case 
of  the  " Commonwealth  versus  William  Jenkins"  was  called 
for  trial.  The  aforesaid  William  was  under  indictment  for 
having  bitten  off  the  ear  of  the  prosecuting  witness.  Fairly 
strong  but  by  no  means  conclusive  testimony  against  the 
defendant  had  been  given  when  the  State  " rested." 

A  lawyer  of  the  old  school,  who  still  carried  his  green  bag 
into  Court,  and  who  never  wearied  of  telling  of  his  conflicts 
at  the  bar  with  Grundy,  Holt,  and  Ben  Hardin,  in  their 
palmiest  days,  was  retained  for  the  defence.  His  chief  wit 
ness  was  Squire  Barnhouse,  who  lived  over  on  the  "  Rolling 
Fork."  He  was  the  magistrate  for  his  precinct,  deacon  in 
the  church,  and  the  recognized  oracle  for  the  neighborhood. 
Upon  direct  examination,  in  the  case  at  bar,  he  testified  that 
"he  knowed  the  defendant  William  Jenkins;  had  knowed 
him  thirty  year  or  more;  knowed  his  father  and  mother 


388  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

afore  him."  Inquired  of  then  as  to  the  general  reputation 
of  the  defendant,  as  to  his  being  "a  peaceable  and  law- 
abiding  citizen/'  he  was  found  to  be  all  that  could  be  reason 
ably  desired. 

Squire  Barnhouse  was  then  asked  whether  he  was  pres 
ent  at  the  Caney  Fork  muster,  where  it  was  alleged  that  the 
defendant  had  bitten  off  the  ear  of  the  prosecuting  witness. 
It  turned  out  that  he  was  present.  Further  questioned 
as  to  whether  he  had  paid  particular  attention  to  the  fight, 
he  replied  that  he  did;  that  he  "had  never  seed  Billy  in  a 
fout  before,  and  he  had  a  kind  of  family  pride  in  seein'  how 
he  would  handle  himself."  Further  questioned  as  to  whether 
he  saw  the  defendant  bite  off  the  ear  of  the  prosecuting  wit 
ness  he  replied,  "No,  sir,  no  thin'  uv  the  kind,  no  thin'  uv  the 
kind."  This  was  followed  by  the  inquiry  as  to  whether  his 
opportunities  were  such  that  he  would  most  probably 
have  seen  it,  if  it  had  occurred.  "In  course  I  would,  in 
course  I  would,"  was  the  emphatic  reply. 

The  witness  was  here  turned  over  to  the  Commonwealth's 
attorney,  who  declined  to  cross-examine,  and  Squire  Barn- 
house  was  in  the  act  of  leaving  the  stand  when  in  an  evil 
hour  it  occurred  to  defendant 's  counsel  to  ask  one  question  more. 

"By  the  way,  Squire,  just  one  more  question,  just  where 
you  stand;  now  I  understood  you  to  say" — repeating  the 
answers  already  given;  "now  just  this  question,  did  you 
see  anything  occur  while  the  fight  was  going  on,  or  after  it 
was  over,  that  would  lead  you  to  believe  that  this  defend 
ant  had  bitten  off  the  ear  of  the  prosecuting  witness?" 

The  Squire,  half  down  the  witness  stand,  answered,  "No, 
sir,  nothing  uv  the  kind,"  then,  slowly  and  thoughtfully, 
"nothing  uv  the  kind."  A  moment's  pause.  "Well,  since 
you  mention  it,  I  do  remember  that  just  as  Billy  rizened 
up  offen  him  the  last  time,  I  seed  him  spit  out  a  piece  of 
ear,  but  whose  ear  it  was,  I  don't  pertend  to  know." 

CIRCUMSTANTIAL  EVIDENCE 

In  the  good  County  of  Scotland,  in  the  State  of  Missouri, 
back  in  the  ante-bellum  days  there  lived  one  Solomon  Davis, 


ANECDOTES  OF  LAWYERS  389 

whose  chronic  horror  was  card-playing.  The  evils  of  this 
life  were  in  his  judgment  largely  to  be  attributed  to  this 
terrible  habit.  It  was  his  belief  that  if  the  Grand  Jury 
would  only  take  hold  of  the  matter  in  the  right  spirit,  a  stop 
could  be  put  to  the  "  nefarious  habit  of  card-playing,  which 
was  ruining  the  morals  of  so  many  young  men  in  Scotland 
County."  This  was  the  burden  of  his  discourse  in  and 
out  of  season.  His  ardent  desire  that  he  himself  should  be 
called  on  the  Grand  Jury  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  end 
mentioned  was  at  length  gratified.  At  a  certain  term  of 
court  he  was  not  only  summoned  upon  the  Grand  Jury,  but 
duly  appointed  its  foreman. 

Upon  the  adjournment  of  court  for  dinner,  immediately 
thereafter,  one  Ben  Mason,  the  wit  of  the  bar,  —  and  not 
himself  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  pastime  that  involved 
spades,  kings,  and  even  queens, —  ardently  congratulated  the 
new  foreman  upon  his  appointment,  assuring  him  that  now 
his  opportunity  had  come  to  put  an  end,  by  the  omnipotent 
power  of  the  Grand  Jury,  "to  the  nefarious  habit  of  card- 
playing  which  was  ruining  the  morals  of  so  many  young 
men  in  Scotland  County." 

"And  now,  Squire,"  continued  Ben,  "I  can  give  you  the 
name  of  a  gentleman  who  does  n't  play  himself,  but  is  always 
around  where  playing  is  going  on,  and  he  can  tell  you  who 
plays,  where  they  play,  how  much  is  bet,  and  all  about  it." 

Delighted  at  this  apparently  providential  revelation,  the 
Squire  had  a  subpoena  forthwith  issued  for  "the  witness  men 
tioned,  one  Ranzey  Sniffle,  a  half-witted  fellow  who  had 
never  taken  or  expected  to  take  a  part  in  the  game  himself, 
but  whose  cup  of  happiness  was  full  to  the  brim  when,  in 
return  for  punching  up  the  fire,  mixing  the  drinks,  and  snuffing 
the  candle,  he  was  permitted  to  see  the  play  actually  going  on. 

Trembling  with  apprehension  at  the  dread  summons  to 
appear  before  the  "Grand  Inquest"  —  if  it  had  been  three 
centuries  earlier  at  Saragossa  it  could  scarcely  have  ap 
peared  more  alarming  —  the  witness  was  ushered  into  the 
immediate  presence  of  the  awful  tribunal  over  which  Squire 
Davis  was  now  presiding.  After  taking  the  customary  oath, 


390  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  telling  his  name,  age,  and  where  he  lived,  Mr.  Sniffle 
was  questioned  by  the  foreman  as  to  his  personal  knowledge 
of  any  game  or  games  of  cards  being  played  for  money,  or  any 
valuable  thing,  within  one  year  last  past,  within  the  said 
County  of  Scotland,  and  solemnly  warned,  if  he  had  any  such 
knowledge,  to  proceed  in  his  own  way,  and  tell  all  about  it ; 
to  tell  when  and  where  it  was,  who  were  present,  and  what 
amount,  if  any,  was  bet. 

Recovering  himself  a  little  by  this  time,  the  witness  began: 

"The  last  time  I  seed  them  playin',  Squire,  was  at  Levi 
Myers's  sto' ;  they  sot  in  about  sundown  last  Saturday  night, 
and  never  loosened  their  grip  until  Monday  mornin'  about 
daylight." 

"Now,  Mr.  Sniffle,"  interrupted  the  Squire  with  great 
dignity,  "will  you  proceed  in  your  own  way,  to  give  to  the 
gentlemen  of  this  Grand  Jury  the  names  of  the  persons  who 
were  thus  engaged  not  only  in  violating  the  statute  law  of 
Missouri,  but  in  violating  the  law  of  God  by  desecrating  His 
holy  Sabbath?" 

"Well,  Squire,"  continued  the  witness,  slowly  counting  off 
on  his  fingers,  "thar  was  Levi  Myers,  Sammy  Hocum,  Mose 
Johnson,  Josiah  Davis,"  —  "Suspend,  Mr.  Sniffle,  suspend," 
commanded  the  Squire  with  great  indignation,  and  turning 
to  his  official  associates,  he  continued,  "I  am  aware,  gentle 
men  of  the  Grand  Jury,  that  my  son  Josiah  is  sometimes 
present  when  cards  are  being  played,  but  he  assures  me  on 
his  honor  as  a  gentleman,  that  he  never  takes  part,  and  doesn't 
even  know  one  card  from  another.  Now,  Mr.  Witness,  do 
you  undertake,  under  the  solemn  sanction  of  an  oath,  to  say 
that  my  son  Josiah  was  engaged  in  the  game?  By  the  way, 
Mr.  Sniffle,  do  you  understand  the  nature  of  an  oath?" 

"No,  Squire,"  slowly  replied  the  witness,  "I  dun  know 
as  I  do." 

"  Don't  you  know  what  will  become  of  you,  Ranze,  if  you 
swear  to  a  lie?"  quickly  asked  a  juryman  from  a  back  seat. 

"  Yas,  in  course,  if  I  swar  to  a  lie,  they  '11  send  me  to  the 
penitentiary,  and  then  I  '11  go  to  hell  afterwards,"  replied  Mr. 
Sniffle. 


ANECDOTES  OF  LAWYERS  391 

The  competency  of  the  witness  thus  appearing,  the  fore 
man  proceeded : 

"Now,  Mr.  Sniffle,  do  you,  under  the  solemn  sanction  of 
an  oath,  undertake  to  say  that  my  son  Josiah  was  engaged 
in  that  game?" 

"I  dun  know  as  I  adzackly  understand  the  meanin'  of  bein' 
engaged  in  the  game;  but  I  seed  Josiah  a-dealin'  the  papes, 
when  his  time  come  to  fling  a  card  he  flung  it,  and  uv'ry  now 
and  then,  he  rech  out  and  drug  in  the  chicerokum.  I  dun  know 
as  I  adzackly  understand  'bout  bein'  engaged  in  the  game,  but 
if  that  were  bein'  engaged,  then  Josiah  were  engaged!" 

JOHN  RANDOLPH  OF  ROANOKE 

Seldom  have  more  significant  words  been  uttered  than 
those  of  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  when  told  that  a  certain 
man  had  been  denouncing  him.  "  Denouncing  me,"  replied 
Randolph,  with  astonishment,  "that  is  strange,  /  never  did 
him  a  favor." 

The  voice  of  but  one  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  has 
mingled  in  the  contentions  of  the  Great  Hall.  That  was  no 
cause  for  regret,  as  for  a  lifetime  he  was  the  dread  of  political 
foes  and  friends  alike. 

A  colleague  from  "the  valley"  probably  remembered  him 
well  to  the  last.  That  colleague,  recently  elected  to  fill  a 
vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  a  member  of  long  service, 
signalized  his  entrance  into  the  House  by  an  unprovoked 
attack  upon  Mr.  Randolph.  The  latter,  from  his  seat  near  by, 
listened  with  apparent  unconcern  to  the  fierce  personal  assault. 
To  the  surprise  of  all,  no  immediate  reply  was  made  to  the 
speech,  and  the  new  member  flattered  himself,  no  doubt,  that 
the  "grim  sage"  was  for  once  completely  unhorsed. 

A  few  days  later,  however,  Randolph,  while  discussing  a 
bill  of  local  importance,  casually  remarked:  "This  bill,  Mr. 
Speaker,  lost  its  ablest  advocate  in  the  death  of  my  lamented 
colleague,  whose  seat  is  still  vacant!  v 

HORACE  GREELEY 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  will  of  Stephen  Girard  of 
Philadelphia,  after  a  splendid  bequest  for  the  establishment 


392          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  the  great  University  which  bears  his  name,  provided  that 
no  minister  of  the  Gospel  should  ever  be  permitted  to  enter 
the  grounds  of  the  institution. 

It  so  happened  upon  a  time,  that  Horace  Greeley,  wearing 
white  hat  and  cravat,  and  with  his  ministerial  cast  of  coun 
tenance  well  in  evidence,  sauntered  up  to  the  gate  of  the 
Girard  institution  and  was  about  to  enter.  He  was  instantly 
stopped  by  the  keeper,  who  bluntly  told  him  that  he  could 
not  enter. 

"  What  the  hell  is  the  reason  I  can't?''  demanded  Greeley. 

"Oh!  I  beg  your  pardon,"  apologized  the  astonished  gate 
keeper,  "walk  right  in,  sir;  you  can." 

PATRIOTIC  TO  THE  CORE 

Judge  Allen  of  southern  Illinois,  a  leading  member  of 
Congress  a  half-century  ago,  during  a  recent  address  to  the 
old  settlers  of  McLean  County  related  an  incident  of  early 
days  on  the  Wabash.  Population  was  sparse,  and  the  com 
mon  school  was  yet  far  in  the  future.  The  teacher  who  could 
read,  write,  and  "cipher"  to  the  "single  rule  of  three"  was 
well  equipped  for  his  noble  calling.  Lamentable  failures 
upon  the  part  of  aspirants  to  attain  even  the  modest 
standard  indicated,  were  by  no  means  of  rare  occur 
rence. 

Back  in  the  thirties,  an  individual  of  by  no  means  pre 
possessing  appearance  presented  himself  to  Judge  Allen's 
father,  the  Magistrate,  Ruling  Elder,  and  ex-officio  school 
director  for  his  precinct,  and  asked  permission  "to  keep 
school."  Being  interrogated  as  to  what  branches  he  could 
teach,  the  three  R's  —  readin',  'ritin',  and  'rithmetic  —  were, 
with  apparent  confidence,  at  once  put  in  nomination. 

"Have  you  ever  taught  geography  and  English  gram 
mar?"  was  the  next  inquiry. 

With  a  much  less  confident  tone,  as  he  had  probably  never 
heard  of  either,  he  replied : 

"I  have  teached  geography  some,  but  as  for  English 
grammar,  I  wouldn't  'low  one  of  'em  to  come  into  my  school- 
house.  'Merican  grammar  is  good  enough  for  me!" 


ANECDOTES  OF  LAWYERS  893 

"SWEET  ALICE,   BEN  BOLT" 

A  touching  scene  occurred  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
a  number  of  years  ago,  when  an  aged  member  from  New  Jer 
sey  arose,  and  for  the  first  time  addressed  the  Speaker.  All 
eyes  were  turned  in  his  direction  as  he  stood  calmly  awaiting 
recognition.  He  was  tall,  spare,  and  erect.  His  venerable 
appearance  and  kindly  expression,  coupled  with  most  courte 
ous  manners,  at  once  commanded  attention.  As  in  husky 
tones  he  again  said,  "Mr.  Speaker!"  there  came  from  the 
farthest  end  of  the  Great  Hall  in  a  whisper,  but  distinctly 
heard  by  all,  the  words,  "  Sweet  Alice,  Ben  Bolt. "  A  moment 
later,  and  from  the  floor  and  gallery  many  voices  blended  in 
the  familiar  refrain,  "Don't  you  remember  sweet  Alice 
Ben  Bolt?" 

The  ovation  which  immediately  followed  was  such  as  is 
rarely  witnessed  in  the  Great  Hall.  Business  was  suspended 
for  the  moment,  and  the  hand  of  the  new  member  warmly 
grasped  by  the  chosen  representatives  of  all  parties  and 
sections.  It  was  an  inspiring  tribute,  one  worthily  bestowed. 
The  member  was  Thomas  Dunn  English,  author  of  the  little 
poem,  sung  in  palace  and  cottage,  which  has  found  its  way 
into  all  languages,  and  touched  all  hearts. 

THE  MAINE  LAW 

The  mention  of  the  "Maine  Law"  recalls  a  little  episode 
that  occurred  in  the  early  days  in  the  good  county  of  McLean. 
One  Duncan  —  no  kinsman  to  him  who  had  been 

"  So  clear  in  his  great  office  " — 

was  again  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature.  The  temperance 
question,  in  some  of  its  many  phases,  was  then  giving  much 
trouble  to  aspirants  to  public  place.  In  the  midst  of  his 
opening  speech  at  the  old  courthouse,  the  candidate  was 
interrupted  by  one  of  the  inquisitive  men  who  always 
appear  when  least  wanted,  with  the  question:  "Mr.  Duncan, 
are  you  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law?"  "Yes,  yes,"  quickly 
replied  the  candidate,  "I  am  coming  to  that  very  soon." 
Shying  off  to  the  tariff,  the  improvement  of  Western  rivers, 
and  the  necessity  of  rigid  economy  in  all  public  expenditures, 


394          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

our  candidate  was  about  to  close  when  the  same  troublesome 
inquiry,  "Mr.  Duncan,  are  you  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law?" 
again  greeted  his  unwilling  ears.  "Oh,  yes,"  exclaimed  the 
orator,  in  tone  and  manner  indicating  much  thankfulness: 
"I  am  glad  you  called  my  attention  to  this  subject;  I  was 
about  to  forget  it.  My  fellow-citizens  have  a  right  to  know 
my  views  upon  all  public  questions,  and  I  have  nothing  to 
conceal.  I  have  no  respect  for  candidates  who  attempt  to 
dodge  any  of  these  great  questions.  I  have  given  you  fully, 
my  views  upon  the  tariff,  upon  a  general  system  of  internal 
improvements,  and  something  of  my  own  services  in  the 
past;  and  now  thanking  you  for  your  attention,  will"  — 
"Mr.  Duncan,  are  you  in  favor  of  the  Maine  Law?"  were 
the  words  that  again  escaped  the  lips  of  the  importunate 
inquisitor. 

Fully  appreciating  his  dilemma  —  with  constituents  about 
equally  divided  upon  the  dangerous  question  —  the  candidate 
at  once  nerved  himself  for  the  answer  upon  which  hung  his 
hopes  and  fears,  and  boldly  replied :  "  Yes,  sir,  I  am  in  favor 
of  the  law,  but  everlastingly  opposed  to  its  enforcement!" 

HOW  HE  GOT  HIS  MAJORITY 

One  of  the  candidates  upon  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Tilden 
when  he  was  elected  Governor  of  New  York,  was  the  late 
William  Dorshemer.  Judge  Maynard  told  me  that  he  was 
present  in  the  library  of  Mr.  Tilden  when  Dorshemer  called, 
immediately  after  the  full  election  returns  had  been  received. 
Tilden Js  popularity  at  the  time  was  very  great  —  growing 
out  of  his  successful  prosecution  of  the  noted  Canal  ring,  — 
and  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  the  ticket  of  which  he 
was  the  head.  Mr.  Dorshemer,  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
elect,  was  greatly  delighted  that  his  own  majority  exceeded 
that  of  the  more  distinguished  candidate  for  the  Chief  Execu 
tive  office.  During  the  conversation,  Dorshemer  remarked 
to  Tilden:  "Your  majority  is  only  fifty  thousand,  while 
mine  is  fifty-one  thousand,  five  hundred."  "Yes,  yes," 
quickly  remarked  Tilden;  "you  got  the  fifteen  hundred;  / 
gave  you  the  fifty  thousand !" 


ANECDOTES  OF  LAWYERS  395 

WILLIAM  R.  TRAVERS 

The  generation  now  passing  has  known  no  man  of  keener 
wit  than  the  late  William  R.  Travers,  of  New  York.  An 
impediment  of  speech  not  infrequently  gave  zest  and  vim 
to  his  words,  when  they  finally  found  utterance.  He  was 
for  a  lifetime  steeped  in  affairs  of  great  concern  and  among 
his  associates  were  prominent  factors  in  the  commercial  and 
political  world. 

On  his  revisiting  Baltimore  some  years  after  his  removal 
to  New  York,  an  old  acquaintance  remarked,  "You  seem  to 
stutter  more  in  New  York  than  you  did  here,  Mr.  Travers." 
To  this  the  brief  reply  at  length  came,  "Have  to  —  it 's  a 
bigger  place." 

Back  in  the  days  when  Gould  and  Fisk  were  names  to 
conjure  with  in  the  mart  and  on  the  board;  when  railroads 
and  gold  mines  were  but  pawns  upon  the  chessboard  of 
"money  changers  and  those  who  sold  doves";  when  "Black 
Friday"  was  still  fresh  in  the  memories  of  thousands,  this 
incident  is  said  to  have  occurred. 

To  weightier  belongings,  Gould  and  Fisk  had  added  by 
way  of  pastime  a  splendid  steamer  to  ply  between  Fall  River 
and  New  York.  Upon  its  trial  voyage,  Travers  was  the  guest 
of  its  owners.  The  appointments  of  the  vessel  were  gorgeous 
in  the  extreme,  and  in  the  large  saloon  were  suspended  life- 
size  portraits  of  Gould  and  of  Fisk.  After  a  promenade  of  an 
hour  in  company  with  the  originals,  Travers  suddenly  paused 
in  front  of  the  portraits,  gazed  earnestly  at  each  in  turn,  and 
then  —  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  intervening  space  —  slowly 
ejaculated:  "Where 's  Christ?" 

TOLD  BY  COLONEL  W.  D.  HAYNIE 
The  following,  told  with  happy  effect  by  Colonel  W.  D. 
Haynie  of  the  Chicago  Bar,  probably  has  no  parallel  in 
theological  literature.  A  colored  brother  who  felt  called 
upon  to  preach,  applied  to  the  Bishop  of  his  church  for 
license  to  exercise  the  sacred  office.  The  Bishop,  far  from 
being  favorably  impressed  by  the  appearance  of  the  can 
didate,  earnestly  inquired  whether  he  had  read  the  Bible, 


396          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

and  was  familiar  with  appropriate  stories  to  relate,  as 
occasion  might  require,  to  his  Sunday  school  and  congrega 
tion.  The  answer  was,  "Boss,  I  has  read  dat  book  from  led 
to  led."  In  response  to  the  request  of  the  good  Bishop  that 
he  would  repeat  a  Bible  story,  the  applicant  for  Holy  Orders 
began: 

"  One  time  dar  wus  a  wicked  ole  King,  an'  his  name  was 
Ahab;  an'  he  live  in  Babylon;  an'  he  wus  a  mighty  warrior; 
an'  one  day  he  wuz  marchin'  along  at  de  head  uv  his  army 
fru  de  streets  of  Babylon,  an'  he  seed  Bersheby  standin' 
up  on  de  house-top;  an'  he  said  to  his  soldiers,  l  Bring  me 
Bersheby  fur  my  wife' ;  an'  day  brung  him  Bersheby  fur  his 
wife.  An'  ole  Ahab  he  march  a  long  ways  off,  and  fit  a  big 
battle,  an'  tuk  a  hull  lot  of  prisoners;  an'  cum  a-marchnV 
back  fru  de  streets  of  Babylon,  wid  de  brass  bans  a-playhV, 
and  de  stars  an'  stripes  a-floatin';  an'  Bersheby  she  wuz 
a-standin'  on  de  house-top,  and  she  holler  out, 
" '  How  did  you  cum  out  wid  'em,  old  Ahab?' 
"  An'  it  make  him  powerful  mad  you  know;  an  he  say  to 
his  soldiers,  'Frow  her  down  to  me.'  And  dey  frowed  her 
down  to  him;  and  den  he  say,  'Frow  her  down  to  me  seven 
times';  and  dey  frowed  her  down  seven  times;  and  den  he  say, 
'Frow  her  down  to  me  seventy  times  seven  times  /'  and  dey 
frowed  her  down  to  him  seventy  times  seven  times;  an'  po'  ole 
Bersheby,  she  crawl  away  and  lay  down  at  de  rich  man's 
gate,  and  de  dogs  come  and  lick  her  wouns,  and  when  dey 
gevered  her  up,  dar  was  'leven  basketfuls  left,  an'  whose  wife 
will  she  be  in  de  resurrection?" 


L 
OUR  NOBLE   CALLING 

THE   LEGAL  PROFESSION  —  TAKEN   BY   SURPRISE  —  MISSING  THE 

POINT  OP  THE  JOKE A  REMARKABLE  INCIDENT  —  A  JUDICIAL 

DECISION  ON  BAPTISM  —  A  DOUBTFUL  COMPLIMENT  —  STRONG 
PERSONAL  ATTACHMENT — IRISH  WIT — ENGLISH  JOKES  ABOUT 
LAWYERS  —  GREATNESS  UNAPPRECIATED  —  ALL  IN  HIS  WIFE'S 

NAME — A  RETORT  BY  CURRAN  —  REMITTING  A  FINE A  CASE 

"  ON  ALL-FOURS"  — "GOING  OUT  WITH  THE  TIDE." 

AS  we  well  know,  lawyers  generally  entertain  an  exceed 
ingly  exalted  opinion  of  their  profession.  Textbooks, 
opinions  of  courts,  addresses  innumerable  to  graduating 
students,  all  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  our  noble  profession 
is  the  most  honorable  of  human  callings,  the  safeguard  of 
society,  the  palladium  of  our  liberty. 

True,  some  uncharitable  layman  has  suggested:  "Yes, 
all  this,  and  more,  has  been  said  a  thousand  times,  bid  always 
by  lawyers." 

There  are  persons  yet  in  life  who,  practically  at  least,  hold 
with  Aaron  Burr,  that  "law  is  that  which  is  boldly  asserted 
and  plausibly  maintained/'  and  that  lawyers,  like  the  Roman 
augurs  of  old,  always  smile  when  they  meet  one  another  on 
the  street.  The  by  no  means  exalted  opinion  of  two  men  as 
to  "our  noble  profession"  will  appear  from  the  following. 

A  few  days  after  Knott  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  was 
sitting  alone  in  his  office,  waiting  for  clients,  when  a  one- 
gallowsed,  awkward-looking  fellow  from  the  "brush"  walked  in 
without  ceremony,  dropped  into  the  only  vacant  chair,  and 
inquired : l '  Air  you  a  lawyer,  mister? ' '  Assuming  the  manner 
of  one  of  the  regulars,  Knott  unhesitatingly  answered  that 
he  was.  "Well,"  said  the  visitor,  "I  thought  I  would  drap 
in  and  git  you  to  fetch  a  few  suits  for  me."  Picking  up  his 
pen  with  the  air  of  a  man  with  whom  suing  people  was  an 
everyday,  matter-of-course  sort  of  an  affair,  Knott  said: 

397 


398  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"  Who  did  you  wish  to  sue?"  To  which  —  with  a  prolonged 
yawn  —  the  prospective  client  drawled  out:  "I  ain't  partic 
ular,  Mister,  I  jest  thought  I'd  get  you  to  pick  out  a  few 
skerry  fellows  that  would  complemise  easy  /" 

The  remaining  incident  is  an  experience  of  my  own,  when, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  I  had  hung  out  my  sign  in  the  then 
county-seat  of  Old  Woodford. 

My  first  client  had  retained  me  to  obtain  a  divorce 
because  of  abandonment  during  the  two  years  last  past  by  the 
sometime  partner  of  his  joys  and  sorrows.  The  bill  for  divorce 
was  duly  filed;  but  on  "  the  coming  in  of  the  answer,"  a  con 
tinuance  of  the  suit,  for  cause  shown,  was  granted  to  the  de 
fendant. 

At  an  early  hour  on  the  morning  thereafter,  my  client 
called,  and  I  soon  discovered  he  was  in  a  frame  of  mind  by  no 
means  joyous.  The  disappointment  he  expressed  at  the 
continuance  of  his  suit  was  evidently  sincere.  My  explana 
tion  of  the  impossibility  of  preventing  it,  and  the  confident 
hope  I  held  out  that  he  would  certainly  get  his  divorce  at  the 
next  term,  evidently  gave  him  little  relief.  He  at  length 
intimated  a  desire  to  have  a  confidential  talk  with  me.  I 
took  him  into  my  " private  office"  (that  has  a  professional 
sound,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  my  office  had  but  one  room,  and 
that  was  "open  as  day"  to  everybody)  and  assured  him  that 
whatever  he  said  to  me  would  be  in  the  strictest  confidence. 
Feeling  that  I  was  on  safe  ground,  I  now  spoke  in  a  lofty  tone 
of  the  sacred  relation  existing  between  counsel  and  client, 
and  that  any  communication  he  desired  to  make  would  be 
as  safe  as  within  his  own  bosom,  "  or  words  to  that  effect." 
Relieved,  apparently,  by  the  atmosphere  of  profound  secrecy 
that  now  enveloped  us,  he  "  unfolded  himself "  to  the  effect  that 
some  years  before  he  had  been  deeply  in  love  with  an  excellent 
young  lady  in  his  neighborhood,  but  for  some  trifling  cause 
he  could  now  hardly  explain,  he  had  in  a  pique  suddenly 
turned  his  attentions  to  another  to  whom  he  was  soon  united 
in  the  holy  bonds  that  he  was  now  so  anxious  to  have  sundered 
by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law. 

A  deeply  drawn  sigh  was  here  the  prelude  to  the  startling 


OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  S99 

revelation,  that  since  his  present  sea  of  troubles  had  encom 
passed  him  about  the  old  flame  had  been  rekindled  in  his 
heart.  I  now  candidly  informed  him  that  I  was  wholly  in 
experienced  in  such  matters,  but  as  his  counsel  I  would  take 
the  liberty  to  advise  him  of  the  monstrous  impropriety  of 
any  visible  manifestation  or  expression  of  the  newly  revived 
attachment.  This  was  followed  by  the  comforting  assurance 
upon  my  part,  however,  that  when  divorced,  he  would  be 
thereby  restored  to  all  his  ancient  rights  and  privileges,  and 
lawfully  entitled  to  reenter  the  matrimonial  lists  in  such 
direction,  and  at  whatever  gait  seemed  to  him  best.  The 
sigh  to  which  the  above  was  the  prelude,  hardly  prepared  me 
for  the  startling  revelation  that  another  fellow  was  now  actu 
ally  keeping  company  with  the  young  lady.  My  client's 
feelings  here  overcame  him  for  a  moment,  and  he  complained 
bitterly  of  his  hard  fate  in  being  "tied  up,"  while  the  coast 
was  clear  to  his  competitor.  After  a  moment  of  deep  study, 
he  expressed  the  opinion  in  substance,  that  if  his  rival  could 
only  be  held  in  check  until  the  divorce  was  granted,  he  was 
confident  all  would  be  well. 

I  here  told  him  that  this  was  all  beyond  my  depth,  and 
along  a  line  where  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  render 
him  any  service.  Hitching  his  chair  up  a  little  closer,  and 
looking  at  me  earnestly  he  said:  "You  are  a  good-looking 
young  fellow,  and  rather  a  glib  talker,  and  I  will  give  you  this 
hundred  dollars  if  you  will  cut  that  fellow  out  until  I  get  my 
divorce!"  Declining  with  some  show  of  indignation,  as  well 
as  surprise  —  for  I  was  young  then  in  the  practice  —  I  as 
sured  him  that  his  proposal  was  out  of  the  domain  of  profes 
sional  service,  and  could  not  be  thought  of  for  a  moment.  In 
a  tone  indicating  deep  astonishment,  he  said: "  Why,  I  thought 
a  lawyer  would  do  anything  for  money!" 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "most  anything,  but  this  is  the  exception; 
and  besides,  if  the  young  lady  is  as  beautiful  as  you  say  she 
is,  you  would  be  in  greater  danger  from  me  at  the  end  of  your 
probation  than  from  the  other  fellow."  "Oh,  Lord,  I  had  n't 
thought  of  that,"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  pocketed  his  hundred 
dollars,  picked  up  his  hat,  and  left  my  office. 


400          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Near  the  close  of  the  following  term  of  court,  as  the  decree 
was  being  signed  granting  the  divorce  aforementioned,  I 
approached  my  client  as  he  sat  solitary  in  the  rear  of  the  court 
room,  and  earnestly  congratulated  him  upon  the  fact  that  he 
was  now  free  and  at  liberty  to  fight  his  own  battles.  "Yes," 
he  replied,  with  a  groan  that  touched  the  heart  of  the  tipstaff 
near  by,  "but  it  's  too  late  now;  she  married  that  other  fellow 
last  Thursday." 

TAKEN  BY  SURPRISE 

Upon  a  time,  far  back,  Ballou,  of  happy  memory,  was 
Judge  of  the  Woodford  Circuit  Court.  A  young  lawyer,  after 
diligent  preparation  and  exhaustive  argument,  confidently 
submitted  his  first  case  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Court.  To 
his  utter  dismay,  His  Honor  promptly  rendered  a  decision 
adverse  to  the  contention  of  the  youthful  barrister.  Deeply 
humiliated  by  his  defeat,  the  latter  exclaimed:  "I  am  aston 
ished  at  such  a  decision!"  The  admonition  of  a  brother,  to 
patience,  failing  to  accomplish  its  charitable  purpose,  the  irate 
attorney  asseverated  more  excitedly  than  before,  his  astonish 
ment  at  such  a  decision.  Whereupon  the  judge  ordered  the 
clerk  to  enter  up  a  fine  of  five  dollars  against  the  offending 
attorney  for  contempt  of  court.  Silence  now  reigned  supreme, 
and  the  victim  of  judicial  wrath  sank  back  into  his  seat,  utterly 
dismayed.  The  strain  of  the  situation  was  at  length  relieved 
in  part  by  an  old  lawyer  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  trial 
table,  slowly  arising  and  solemnly  remarking:  "Something 
might  be  said,  Your  Honor,  in  extenuation  of  the  conduct 
of  my  young  friend.  It  is  his  first  case,  one  in  which  he  felt 
the  deepest  interest,  and  upon  the  successful  issue  of  which, 
he  had  founded  his  fondest  hopes.  I  trust  Your  Honor,, 
upon  due  reflection,  will  remit  this  fine.  It  is  true,  he  has 
with  much  vehemence  expressed  his  astonishment  at  the 
decision  of  the  Court.  But  his  youth  and  inexperience  must 
surely  be  taken  into  account.  Ah,  Your  Honor,  when  our 
young  brother  has  practised  before  this  court  as  long  as  some 
of  us  have,  he  will  not  be  surprised  at  any  decision  Your 
Honor  may  make !" 


OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  401 

MISSING  THE  POINT  OF  THE  JOKE 

Sidney  Smith  is  credited  with  saying  that  it  required  a 
surgical  operation  to  get  a  joke  into  a  Scotchman's  head. 
And  not  a  bad  reply  that  of  the  Scotchman:  "Yes,  an  English 
joke." 

It  is  unnecessary,  however,  to  cross  the  Atlantic  in  order 
to  find  a  few  well  authenticated  cases  where  the  surgical  opera 
tion  would  have  been  required.  The  Hon.  Samuel  H.  Treat, 
United  States  Judge  of  Southern  Illinois,  was  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  upright  of  judges,  and  possibly  —  on  or  off 
the  bench  —  the  most  solemn-appearing  of  all  of  the  sons  of 
men. 

This  little  incident  was  related  by  Judge  Weldon.  Soon 
after  the  close  of  the  War,  he  one  day  told  Judge  Treat  a  story 
he  had  heard  upon  a  recent  visit  to  Washington.  McDougall, 
formerly  of  Illinois,  but  at  that  time  a  Senator  from  Cali 
fornia,  had  become  very  dissipated  near  the  close  of  his  term. 
At  a  late  hour  one  night  a  policeman  on  the  Avenue  found 
him  in  an  utterly  helpless  condition  —  literally  in  the  gutter. 
As  the  officer  was  making  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  get  the 
unfortunate  statesman  upon  his  feet,  he  inquired:  "Who  are 
you? "  The  reply  was :  "This  morning  I  was  Senator  McDou 
gall,  but  now  I  am  Sewered  f" 

A  few  moments  later  Mr.  Hay  came  into  the  office  and 
Judge  Treat  said:  "Hay,  Weldon  has  just  told  me  a  good 
story  about  our  old  friend  McDougall.  Mac  was  in  the  gutter, 
and  a  policeman  asked  him  who  he  was,  and  Mac  told  him, 
"This  morning  I  was  Senator  McDougall,  but  now  I  am  the 
Hon.  William  H.  Seward!" 

AN  INCIDENT 

Upon  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anni 
versary  of  the  organization  of  the  City  of  Bloomington,  the 
oration  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  James  S.  Ewing,  late  Minis 
ter  to  Belgium.  In  the  course  of  his  address,  he  related  the 
following  incident: 

"  In  the  early  history  of  this  county,  two  boys  one  day 
went  into  the  old  courthouse  to  hear  a  lawsuit  tried.  There 


402          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

were  assembled  eight  young  lawyers,  not  all  of  them  engaged 
in  the  trial,  but  giving  strict  attention  to  the  proceedings.  It 
was  not  a  suit  of  great  importance. 

"  The  Court  was  presided  over  by  Samuel  H.  Treat,  who 
afterwards  became  a  United  States  District  Judge  and  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  and  jurists  in  the  State. 

"One  of  the  lawyers  was  David  Davis,  first  a  noted 
lawyer,  then  a  circuit  judge,  then  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  then  a  United  States  Senator  and 
acting  President  of  the  Senate;  a  citizen  of  State  and  na 
tional  fame  whom  the  people  of  Bloomington  loved  and 
delighted  to  honor. 

"  Another  was  John  T.  Stuart,  a  brilliant  lawyer,  several 
times  a  member  of  Congress,  and  one  of  the  most  lovable  of 
men. 

"Another  one  was  David  B.  Campbell,  then  the  prose 
cuting  attorney  and  afterwards  a  prominent  lawyer  and 
citizen  of  Springfield. 

"  Another  was  Edward  D.  Baker,  who  was  afterwards  a 
United  States  Senator  from  Oregon;  a  famous  orator  who 
immortalized  himself  by  his  marvellous  oration  over  Senator 
Broderick. 

"  Another  was  James  A.  McDougall,  a  brilliant  Irishman, 
afterwards  a  United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  Cali 
fornia. 

"And  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  has  passed  beyond  the 
domain  of  human  praise  into  the  pantheon  of  universal 
history. 

"  I  might  add  that  one  of  those  boys  afterwards  became 
the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States;  and  the  other  is 
your  speaker. 

"  Speaking  to  any  audience  in  America,  I  might  say  in  the 
world,  I  doubt  if  such  an  incident  could  be  truthfully  related 
of  any  other  gathering." 

A  JUDICIAL  DECISION  ON  BAPTISM 
It  is  rarely  the  case  that  a  Court  is  called  upon  to  decide 
questions  of  a  purely  theological  character.    Of  necessity, 


OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  403 

however  —  property  interests  being  involved,  —  controver 
sies,  measurably  of  a  religious  character,  sometimes  arise 
for  judicial  determination. 

The  case  to  be  mentioned  is  probably  the  only  one  where 
"  baptism  " —  the  true  mode  and  manner  thereof  —  has  ever 
come  squarely  before  an  American  judge.  A  man  under 
sentence  of  death  for  murder  was  awaiting  execution  in  the 
jail  of  one  of  the  counties  in  northern  Kentucky.  Under  the 
ministrations  of  the  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church,  the  prisoner 
at  length  made  "the  good  confession"  and  desired  to  be 
baptized.  To  this  end,  the  faithful  pastor  applied  to  the 
circuit  judge  before  whom  the  prisoner  had  been  tried,  for 
permission  to  have  the  rite  observed  in  the  Kentucky  River 
near  by.  The  judge  —  more  deeply  versed  in  "Blackstone" 
and  "Ben  Monroe"  than  in  theological  lore  —  declined  to 
have  the  prisoner  removed  from  the  jail,  but  gave  permission 
to  have  him  baptized  in  his  cell.  The  physical  impossibility 
of  the  observance  of  the  solemn  rite  in  the  prisoner's  cell  was 
at  once  explained.  "Certainly,"  said  the  judge  in  reply,  "I 
know  there  is  no  room  in  there  to  baptize  him  that  way;  but 
take  a  bowl  of  water  and  sprinkle  him  right  where  he  is  con 
fined."  "But,"  earnestly  interposed  the  man  of  the  sacred 
office,  "our  church  does  not  recognize  sprinkling  as  valid 
baptism.  We  hold  immersion  to  be  the  only  Scriptural 
method."  "Is  it  possible?"  exclaimed  the  judge,  greatly 
surprised.  "Well,  this  Court  decides  that  sprinkling  is  valid 
baptism;  and  I  tell  you  once  for  all,  that  that  infernal  scoun 
drel  will  be  sprinkled,  or  he  will  be  hung  without  being  bap 
tized  at  all!" 

Inasmuch  as  this  decision  has  never  been  overruled  by  a 
higher  court,  it  stands  as  the  only  judicial  determination  of 
the  long-controverted  question. 

A  DOUBTFUL  COMPLIMENT 

Mr.  Clark  was  the  leader  of  the  Metamora  Bar  when  I 
located  there  —  and  so  continued.  My  first  case,  and  the 
compliment  of  somewhat  doubtful  significance  bestowed  upon 
its  termination,  came  about  in  this  wise.  I  was  retained  for 


404          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

the  plaintiff  before  Squire  Fairchild  in  a  suit  involving  the 
ownership  of  a  calf  of  the  alleged  value  of  seven  dollars.  It 
being  my  first  case,  and  having  the  aforementioned  leader  as 
my  professional  antagonist  —  and  what  was  of  far  greater 
consequence,  a  contingent  fee  of  two  dollars  and  a  half  trem 
bling  in  the  balance  —  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  no  effort 
was  spared  upon  my  part.  I  won  the  case,  of  course  —  what 
lawyer  ever  told  about  a  case  that  he  had  not  won? 

The  same  evening  a  little  group  in  the  village  store  were 
discussing  the  merits  of  the  case,  and  comparing  the  forensic 
effort  of  the  new  lawyer  with  that  of  the  old-time  leader 
already  mentioned.  At  length  one  Tobias  Wilson,  as  he  slid 
down  from  his  accustomed  perch  upon  the  counter,  signifi 
cantly  observed:  "Men,  you  may  say  what  you  please,  but 
for  my  part,  I  had  ruther  hear  Stevenson  speak  two  minutes 
than  to  hear  old  Clark  all  day ! " 

STRONG  PERSONAL  ATTACHMENT 
Mr.  Clark  —  whose  early  advantages  had  been  none  of 
the  best  —  was  once  counsel  for  the  proponent  hi  a  closely 
contested  will  case.  The  testator,  passing  by  the  next  of 
kin,  had  left  his  entire  estate  to  a  personal  friend,  a  man  not 
of  his  own  blood. 

In  attempting  to  impress  upon  the  jury  the  reasonableness 
of  this  disposition,  Clark  said:  "This,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
is  another  striking  illustration  of  the  power  of  human  friend 
ship.  All  history  —  sacred  and  profane  —  is  full  of  instances 
of  strong  personal  attachments.  Who  can  ever  forget  the 
undying  affection  of  David  and  Jonathan,  of  Damon  and 
Pythias,  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis  ?" 

IRISH  WIT 

Judge  Baldwin  has  left  of  record  the  witty  reply  of  Jo 
Heyfron,  an  Irish  lawyer,  to  a  Mississippi  judge.  The  judge, 
having  rendered  a  very  ridiculous  decision  in  a  cause  in  which 
Heyfron  was  engaged,  the  latter  slowly  arose  as  if  to  address 
the  Court.  The  judge,  exceedingly  pompous  and  a  poor 
lawyer  withal,  in  imperative  tone  said:  "Take  your  seat,  Mr. 


OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  405 

Heyfron;  you  have  practised  at  this  bar  long  enough  to  know 
that  when  this  Court  renders  a  decision,  its  wisdom  can  only 
be  called  in  question  in  a  higher  Court. " 

"If  Your  Honor  plase,"  replied  Jo  in  deprecatory  tone, 
"far  be  it  from  me  to  impugn  in  the  slightest  degray  the 
wisdom  of  Your  Honor's  decision.  I  only  designed  to  rade  a 
few  lines  from  the  book  I  hold  in  my  hand,  in  order  that 
Your  Honor  might  parsave  how  profoundly  aignorant  Sir 
William  Blockstone  was  upon  this  subject!" 

It  is  difficult,  at  this  day,  to  realize  that  such  scenes  could 
ever  have  been  enacted  in  an  English  Court,  as  were  not  in 
frequent  during  the  era  embracing  the  celebrated  "State 
Trials."  While  one  of  these  was  in  progress,  and  Curran 
in  the  midst  of  his  argument,  the  judge  contemptuously 
turned  his  back  upon  the  advocate,  and  began  fondling  a 
favorite  dog  at  his  side.  The  argument  was  at  once  sus 
pended.  "Proceed,  sir,"  were  the  words  which  at  length 
broke  the  stillness  that  had  fallen  upon  the  vast  assemblage. 
"Ah!"  exclaimed  Curran,  "I  was  only  waiting  for  Your 
Lordship  to  conclude  your  consultation  with  your  learned 
associate  /" 

ENGLISH  JOKES  ABOUT  LAWYERS  . 

Possibly  the  most  solemn  book  in  the  world,  not  excepting 
Burton's  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  or  even  "Fearne  on 
Contingent  Remainders,"  is  an  English  publication  of  a  half- 
century  or  so  ago,  entitled  "Jokes  about  Great  Lawyers." 

Of  several  hundred  alleged  jokes  two  or  three  will  bear 
transplanting. 

"My  Lord,"  began  a  somewhat  pompous  barrister,  "it  is 
written  in  the  book  of  nature  —  "  "Be  kind  enough,"  inter 
posed  Lord  Ellenborough,  "to  give  me  the  page  from  which 
you  quote." 

To  the  opening  remark  of  an  equally  pompous  barrister: 

"My  Lord,  the  unfortunate  client  for  whom  I  appear  — " 
"Proceed,  sir,  proceed,"  hastily  observed  the  judge,  "so  far 
the  court  is  with  you! " 

Ellenborough,  when  at  the  bar,  after  protracting  his  argu- 


406  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

ment  to  the  hour  of  adjournment,  said  that  he  would  con 
clude  when  it  should  be  His  Lordship's  pleasure  to  hear  him. 
The  immediate  reply  was:  "The  Court  will  hear  you,  sir, 
to-morrow;  but  as  to  the  pleasure,  that  has  long  been  out  of 
the  question." 

GREATNESS  UNAPPRECIATED 

Gibbon  has  somewhere  said,  that  one  of  the  liveliest 
pleasures  which  the  pride  of  man  can  enjoy  is  to  reappear  in 
a  more  splendid  condition  among  those  who  have  known  him 
in  his  obscurity. 

A  case  in  point  is  of  a  lawyer  of  prominence  in  one  of  the 
Western  States,  who  soon  after  his  appointment  to  a  seat  in 
the  Cabinet  revisited  his  early  home.  Meeting  an  acquaint 
ance  upon  his  arrival  at  the  railway  station,  the  visitor,  with 
emotions  akin  to  those  described  by  Gibbon,  ventured  to 
inquire  what  his  old  neighbors  said  when  they  heard  of  his 
being  appointed  to  a  place  in  the  Cabinet. 

The  unexpected  reply  was:  "Oh,  they  did  n't  say  nothin'; 
they  just  laughed  /" 

ALL  IN  HIS  WIFE'S  NAME 

The  late  Colonel  Lynch  was  for  many  years  the  recognized 
wit  of  the  Logan  County  Bar.  His  repeated  efforts,  upon  a 
time,  to  collect  a  judgment  against  a  somewhat  slippery 
debtor,  were  unavailing;  the  claim  of  the  wife  of  the  debtor, 
to  the  property  attached,  in  each  instance  proving  successful. 
Immeasurably  disgusted  at  the  "unsatisfied"  return  of  the 
third  writ,  the  Colonel  indignantly  exclaimed:  "Yes,  and  I 
suppose  if  he  should  get  religion,  he  would  hold  that,  too,  in 
his  wife's  name!" 

A  RETORT  BY  CURRAN 

The  stinging  retort  of  the  Irish  advocate  Curran  is  re 
called.  At  the  close  of  his  celebrated  encounter  with  one  of 
the  most  overbearing  of  English  judges,  the  latter  insultingly 
remarked  to  the  somewhat  diminutive  advocate:  "I  could 
put  you  in  my  pocket,  sir."  To  which,  with  the  quickness  of 
a  lightning  flash,  Curran  retorted:  "If  you  did,  Your  Lordship 


OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  407 

would  have  more  law  in  your  pocket  than  you  ever  had  in 
your  head!" 

Fiercely  indignant,  the  judge  replied:  "  Another  word,  and 
I  will  commit  you,  sir."  To  which  Curran  fearlessly  retorted : 
"Do,  and  it  will  be  the  best  thing  Your  Lordship  has  com 
mitted  this  term!" 

REMITTING  A  FINE 

About  every  courthouse  in  the  "Blue  Grass"  still  linger 
traditions  of  the  late  Thomas  F.  Marshall.  For  him  Nature 
did  well  her  part.  He  was  a  genius  if  one  ever  walked  this 
earth.  Tall,  erect,  handsome,  of  commanding  presence,  and 
with  intellectual  endowment  such  as  is  rarely  vouchsafed  to 
man,  no  place  seemed  beyond  his  reach.  Having  in  addition 
the  prestige  of  family,  that  counted  for  much,  and  being  the 
possessor  of  inherited  wealth,  it  indeed  seemed  that  to  one 
man  "fortune  had  come  with  both  of  her  hands  full."  The 
successor  of  Clay  and  Crittenden  as  Representative  for  the 
Ashland  District,  a  peerless  orator  upon  the  hustings,  at  the 
bar,  and  in  the  Great  Hall,  his  life  went  out  in  sorrow  and 
disappointment. 

"  Of  all  sad  words  of  tongue  or  pen 
The  saddest  are  these,  'It  might  have  been!" 

His  eulogy  upon  the  gifted  and  lamented  Menifee,  the 
tribute  of  genius  to  genius,  belongs  to  the  realm  of  the  loftiest 
eloquence,  and  seldom  have  words  of  deeper  pathos  been 
written  than  his  own  obituary  —  "Poor  Tom's  a-cold" — 
by  George  D.  Prentice. 

As  to  why  that  which  seemed  so  full  of  promise  "turned  to 
ashes  upon  the  lips,"  the  following  will  explain.  Meeting  his 
kinsman,  theRev.Dr.Breckenridge,  he  said:  "Bob,  when  you 
and  I  graduated,  you  took  to  the  pulpit  and  I  to  the  bottle, 
and  /  have  stuck  to  my  text  a  good  deal  closer  than  you  have 
to  yours  !  " 

Not  inaptly  has  hell  been  described  as  "disqualification  in 
the  face  of  opportunity." 

Bearing  in  mind  Marshall's  invariable  habit  of  not  paying 


408          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

his  debts,  the  point  of  the  closing  remark  of  the  judge  in  the 
incident  to  be  related  will  appear.  Marshall  was  engaged  in 
the  defence  of  a  man  charged  with  murder  in  a  county  some 
distance  from  his  own  home.  Failing  repeatedly  in  his  at 
tempt  to  introduce  certain  testimony  excluded  by  the  Court, 
he  at  length  exclaimed : 

"It  was. upon  just  such  rulings  as  that  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  convicted." 

"Mr.  Clerk,  enter  up  a  fine  of  ten  dollars  against  Mr. 
Marshall  for  contempt  of  court,"  was  the  prompt  response  of 
the  judge. 

"Well,"  said  Marshall,  "this  is  the  first  time  in  a  Christian 
country  I  have  ever  heard  of  a  man  being  fined  for  abusing 
Pontius  Pilate!" 

"Mr.  Clerk,"  said  the  judge,  with  scarcely  suppressed 
indignation,  "enter  up  a  fine  of  twenty-five  dollars  against 
Mr.  Marshall  for  contempt  of  court,  and  the  further  order 
that  he  be  imprisoned  in  the  common  jail  of  the  county  until 
the  fine  and  costs  are  paid." 

The  death-like  stillness  that  fell  upon  the  assemblage  was 
at  length  broken  by  Mr.  Marshall  arising  and  gravely  address 
ing  the  Court: 

"If  Your  Honor  please,  I  am  engaged  in  the  trial  of  an 
important  case,  one  where  human  life  may  depend  upon  my 
efforts.  I  have  just  been  fined  twenty-five  dollars  and  ordered 
to  be  imprisoned  until  the  fine  is  paid.  Upon  a  careful  ex 
amination  of  my  pockets,  I  find  that  I  have  not  that  amount 
nor  any  other  amount  about  my  person.  I  am  more  than  one 
hundred  miles  from  home  and  among  strangers.  In  looking 
over  this  audience,  I  find  but  one  familiar  face,  that  of  Your 
Honor.  I  am  therefore  constrained  to  request  Your  Honor, 
as  an  old  and  cherished  friend,  to  lend  me  the  amount  neces 
sary  to  discharge  this  fine." 

Instantly  the  judge  exclaimed:  "Remit  that  fine,  Mr. 
Clerk;  the  State  is  more  able  to  lose  it  than  I  am." 

A  CASE  "  ON  ALL-FOURS  " 

Near  two-thirds  of  a  century  ago,  one  of  the  best-known 
lawyers  in  Illinois  was  Justin  Butterfield.  He  was  one  of  the 


OUR  NOBLE  CALLING  409 

most  eloquent  of  the  gifted  Whig  leaders  of  the  State  when 
the  list  included  such  names  as  Lincoln,  Stuart,  Hardin, 
Browning,  Baker,  and  Linder.  He  was  the  earnest  cham 
pion  of  General  Zachary  Taylor  for  the  Presidency  in  1848, 
and  his  party  devotion  was  rewarded  by  appointment  to  the 
commissionership  of  the  General  Land  Office.  The  only 
appointment  for  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  ever  an  applicant  was 
that  given  to  Butterfield  soon  after  the  inauguration  of 
President  Taylor. 

Of  few  lawyers  have  brighter  things  ever  been  told  than 
of  Justin  Butterfield.  During  the  fierce  anti-Mormon  ex 
citement  —  which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the  Nauvoo 
Temple  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  the  State  — 
the  " Prophet,"  Joseph  Smith,  was  placed  upon  trial  for  an 
alleged  felony.  The  Hon.  Nathaniel  Pope  was  the  presiding 
judge,  and  Butterfield  counsel  for  Smith.  A  large  audience, 
including  many  elegantly  dressed  ladies,  was  in  attendance. 

When  he  arose  to  address  the  Court,  Butterfield  with 
great  dignity  began : 

"I  am  profoundly  impressed  with  the  solemnity  of  the 
situation  and  the  awful  responsibility  resting  upon  me.  I 
stand  in  the  presence  of  his  Holiness  the  Pope,  surrounded 
by  angels,  to  speak  in  defence  of  the  Lord' 's  anointed  Prophet!" 

While  in  active  practice,  Butterfield  was  upon  one  occasion 
opposing  counsel  to  the  Hon.  David  A.  Smith  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State.  The  latter  had  concluded  his  argument 
and  with  head  resting  upon  the  table  in  front,  had  fallen 
asleep  while  Butterfield  was  speaking.  A  gleam  of  sunlight 
which  had  found  its  way  through  the  window  opposite,  had 
fallen  upon  the  very  bald  head  of  Smith,  causing  it  to  shine 
with  unwonted  brilliancy.  Suddenly  pausing  and  with  arm 
extended  toward  his  sleeping  antagonist,  Butterfield  solemnly 
observed: 

"The  light  shineth  upon  the  darkness  and  the  darkness 
comprehendeth  it  not  /" 

As  the  Old  State  Bank  was  about  to  expire  by  reason  of 
limitation,  the  General  Assembly  passed  a  bill  extending  its 
corporate  life  fifteen  years.  In  litigation  in  which  Butter- 
field  was  counsel,  the  legal  effect  of  the  Act  mentioned 


410  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

being  involved,  the  opposing  counsel  insisted  that  the  legal 
effect  of  said  Act  was  the  creation  of  a  new  bank.  Butter- 
field  in  reply  insisted  that  "a  new  bank  had  not  been  created, 
but  simply  the  life  of  the  old  one  prolonged.  A  case  in 
point,  your  Honor,  precisely  'on  all-fours'  with  this,  is  the 
well-authenticated  one  of  the  good  Hezekiah  when  the  Lord 
lengthened  out  his  life  fifteen  years  for  meritorious  conduct. 
Now,  sir,  did  he  thereby  make  a  new  Hezekiah,  or  did  he  leave 
him  just  the  same  old  Hezekiah?" 

"GOING  OUT  WITH  THE   TIDE" 

Soldier,  lawyer,  and  wit  was  Colonel  Phil  Lee  of  Ken 
tucky.  When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  he  was  of  exceedingly 
small  stature  the  following  incident  —  one  he  often  related  — 
will  be  appreciated. 

Immediately  upon  attaining  his  majority  he  was  a  candi 
date  for  the  Legislature.  On  election  day  he  was  quietly 
seated  on  a  barrel  in  the  room  where  the  election  for  his  pre 
cinct  was  being  conducted,  when  an  old  Deacon  from  the  Tan 
Bark  settlement  came  in  to  vote.  His  choice  for  the  State 
officers  and  for  Sheriff  was  called  out  after  some  little  parley 
ing  as  to  who  were  the  best  men,  and  the  voter  was  about  to 
retire,  when  one  of  the  judges  said, 

"Deacon,  ain't  you  going  to  vote  for  a  candidate  for  the 
Legislature?" 

"Yas,  of  course,  I  like  to  forgot  all  about  that;  who  is 
running  for  the  Legislature?" 

At  which  Phil,  hopping  down  from  the  barrel,  said, 
"  Deacon,  I  am  a  candidate." 

"Who,  you?"  inquired  the  Deacon  —  with  half  con 
temptuous  gaze  at  the  diminutive-looking  aspirant;  then 
turning  to  the  judge  he  said,  "Just  put  me  down  for  the  other 
fellow!" 

Admitted  to  the  bar  at  Shepherdsville  in  his  native  county 
of  Bullitt,  when  barely  of  age,  his  first  appearance  was  as 
attorney  for  the  plaintiff  in  a  breach-of-promise  case  of  much 
local  celebrity.  His  speech  held  the  jury  and  by-standers 
literally  spellbound,  and  it  was  confidently  asserted  that  the 


OUR  NOBLE   CALLING  411 

classic  banks  of  Salt  River  will  probably  never  witness  such 
flights  of  eloquence  again.  At  its  close  Phil  was  warmly 
congratulated  by  an  old  Squire  from  the  "  Rolling  Fork." 

"Phil,  that  was  a  mighty  fine  speech,  a  mighty  fine  speech, 
Phil,  now  mind,  I  tell  you.  That  speech  reminded  me  of 
Henry  Clay." 

At  the  first  mention  of  that  name,  the  Squire  was  promptly 
invited  out  to  take  a  drink.  The  first  round  of  hospitality 
happily  concluded,  Phil  was  in  readiness  for  any  additional 
observations  from  the  Squire. 

"Yes,  Phil,  when  you  kinder  rared  back  and  thro  wed  your 
right  hand  straight  up,  thinks  I,  Henry  Clay,  Henry  Clay!" 

Whereupon  the  Squire  was  without  unnecessary  delay 
invited  to  take  another  drink.  This  accomplished,  the  Squire 
still  held  the  floor. 

"Yes,  Phil,  yes,  Phil,  todes  the  last  when  you  made  that 
big  swoop  with  both  arms  and  'peared  like  you  was  gwyen 
right  up  to  the  rafters,  thinks  I,  Shore  'nough,  Henry  Clay 
come  back  from  his  grave!" 

As  flesh  and  blood  could  not  stand  everything,  the  old 
Squire  was  promptly  invited  to  take  another  drink.  Number 
three  being  properly  placed  to  his  credit,  the  Squire  continued : 

"Yes,  Phil,  you  peared  to  me  to  be  Henry  Clay  right  over 
again  with  jist  one  leetle  difference." 

At  this  Mr.  Lee,  curious  to  know  what  could  be  the  one 
possible  little  difference,  when  there  were  so  many  points  of 
resemblance  between  two  such  orators  as  himself  and  Henry 
Clay,  ventured  to  inquire.  "I  think,"  said  the  Squire,  "this, 
Phil, —  you  peared  to  kinder  lack  his  idees!" 

And  now  comes  the  tragic  ending  of  a  brilliant  career. 
Lee,  while  Commonwealth's  attorney,  was  in  the  last  stages 
of  that  dread  disease,  consumption.  A  murder  case  was  on 
trial  in  which  he  felt  a  deep  interest.  The  case  was  one  of 
unusual  atrocity,  and  the  accused  —  a  man  of  some  local 
prominence  —  had  been  exceedingly  defiant  towards  the 
wan  and  emaciated  prosecuting  attorney  from  its  beginning. 
With  much  difficulty  Colonel  Lee  succeeded  in  getting  to  the 
court-room  in  order  to  make  the  closing  speech  to  the  jury. 


412  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Utterly  exhausted, —  after  depicting  the  horrible  crime  in  all 
its  enormity  and  demanding  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law 
upon  its  perpetrator, —  at  its  close,  in  tones  that  touched  the 
hearts  of  all  who  heard  him,  he  exclaimed: 

" Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  have  prosecuted  the  pleas  of 
this  Commonwealth  until  the  blood  has  dried  up  in  my  veins, 
and  the  flesh  has  perished  from  my  bones!" 

These  were  his  last  words  —  and  his  life  went  out  that 
same  night  just  as  the  clock  struck  twelve.  At  the  self 
same  hour  the  steps  of  the  jury  were  heard  slowly  ascending 
to  the  court-room  which  had  witnessed  his  last  effort  —  their 
verdict,  "Guilty;  the  penalty,  death!" 


LI 
THE    "HOME-COMING'*   AT  BLOOMINGTON 

MCLEAN  COUNTY'S  READINESS  TO  WELCOME  HER  CHILDREN  — 

HONOR  TO  THE  EARLY  SETTLERS BEAUTY  OF  THE  COUNTY 

ITS   PROGRESS  —  ITS   ORGANIZATION  —  PRAISE    OP    JOHN 

MCLEAN  —  HIS  CAREER  IN  CONGRESS,  IN  THE  ILLINOIS  LEGIS 
LATURE,  AND  IN  THE  SENATE McLEAN    COUNTY'S    HEROISM 

REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  OLD  COURT-HOUSE FRENCH  EX 
PLORERS     IN     THE     ILLINOIS      COUNTRY MARQUETTE      AND 

JOLIET  EXPLORE  THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  —  LA  SALLE  EXPLORES 
THE   ST.    LAWRENCE,   THE   OHIO,    AND  THE   MISSISSIPPI  TO  ITS 

MOUTH EXTENT  OF  FRANCE'S   POSSESSIONS  IN   AMERICA  — 

THE     STRUGGLE     BETWEEN    FRANCE     AND     GREAT   BRITAIN  — 
GEORGE   R.    CLARK   CAPTURES   KASKASKIA   FROM   THE    BRITISH 

VIRGINIA  CEDES  TERRITORY,   INCLUDING  ILLINOIS,   TO  THE 

UNITED  STATES THE   LOUISIANA  PURCHASE ILLINOIS  OR 
GANIZED  SUMMARY  OF  SUCCEEDING  EVENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY 

OF  ILLINOIS. 

THE  McLean  County  (Illinois)  "Home-Coming"  of  June 
15,   1907,  was  an  event  of  deep  significance   to  all 
Central  Illinois.     On   that  occasion  I  delivered  the 
welcoming  address,  as  follows: 

"  These  rare  days  in  June  mark  a  memorable  epoch  in  the 
history  of  this  good  county.  The  authoritative  proclamation 
has  gone  forth  that  her  house  has  been  put  in  order,  that 
the  latch-string  is  out  —  all  things  in  readiness  —  and  that 
McLean  County  would  welcome  the  return  of  all  her  children 
who  have  in  days  past  gone  out  from  her  borders. 

"In  the  same  joyous  and  generous  spirit  in  which  the 
welcome  was  extended,  it  has  been  heeded,  and  from  near 
and  far,  from  the  land  of  flowers  and  of  frosts,  from  the  valley 
of  the  Osage,  the  Colorado,  and  the  Platte,  from  the  golden 
shores  of  California,  and  '  where  rolls  the  Oregon' —  sons  and 
daughters  of  this  grand  old  county  have  gladly  turned  their 
footsteps  homeward. 

413 


414  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"  'When  thy  heart  has  grown  weary  and  thy  foot  has  grown 

sore, 
Remember  the  pathway  that  leads  to  our  door.' 

"As  in  the  ancient  days  all  roads  led  to  Rome,  so  in  this 
year  of  grace,  and  in  this  glorious  month  of  June,  all  roads 
lead  back  to  the  old  home;  to  the  hearthstones  around  which 
cling  the  tender  memories  of  childhood,  and  of  loved  ones 
gone  —  to  the  little  mounds  where  sleep  the  ashes  of  an 
cestral  dead. 

"The  'Home-coming'  to  which  you  have  been  invited  will 
leave  its  lasting  impress  upon  all  your  hearts.  The  kindly 
words  that  have  been  spoken,  the  cordial  grasp  of  the  hand, 
the  unbidden  tear,  the  hospitality  extended,  have  all  given 
assurance  that  you  are  welcome.  Here,  for  the  time,  let  dull 
care  and  the  perplexities  that  environ  this  mortal  life  be  laid 
aside,  let  whatever  would  in  the  slightest  mar  the  delight  of 
this  joyous  occasion  be  wholly  forgotten;  so  that  in  the  dis 
tant  future,  to  those  who  return  and  to  those  who  stay,  the 
recollection  of  these  days  will  be  one  of  unalloyed  pleasure; 
and  so  that,  when  in  the  years  to  come  we  tell  over  to  our 
children  of  the  return  to  the  old  home,  this  reunion  will  live 
in  our  memories  as  one  that,  like  the  old  sun-dial,  '  marked 
only  the  hours  which  shine/ 

"No  place  so  fitting  for  this  home-coming  could  have  been 
selected  as  this  beautiful  park,  where  the  springing  grass, 
transparent  lake,  and  magnificent  grove  —  'God's  first 
temple' —  seem  all  to  join  in  welcoming  your  return.  How, 
from  a  mere  hamlet,  a  splendid  city  has  sprung  into  being 
during  the  years  of  your  absence!  No  longer  a  frontier  vil 
lage,  off  the  great  highway  of  travel,  with  the  mail  reaching 
it  semi-weekly  by  stage-coach  or  upon  horseback, —  as  our 
fathers  and  possibly  some  who  now  hear  me  may  have  known 
it, —  it  is  now  'no  mean  city.'  Its  past  is  an  inspiration;  its 
future  bright  with  promise.  It  is  in  very  truth  a  delightful 
dwelling-place  for  mortals,  and  possibly  not  an  unfit  abiding- 
place  for  saints.  Whoever  has  walked  these  streets,  known 
kinship  with  this  people,  called  this  his  home  —  wherever 
upon  this  old  earth  he  may  since  have  wandered  —  has  in  his 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      415 

better  moments  felt  an  unconquerable  yearning  that  no  dis 
tance  or  lapse  of  time  could  dispel,  to  retrace  his  footsteps 
and  stand  once  more  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  his  early 
home.  Truly  has  it  been  said:  'No  man  can  ever  get  wholly 
away  from  his  ancestors.'  Once  a  Bloomingtonian,  and  no 
art  of  the  enchanter  can  dissolve  the  spell.  'Once  in  grace, 
always  in  grace,'  whatever  else  may  betide!  Eulogy  is  ex 
hausted  when  I  say  that  this  city  is  worthy  to  be  the  seat 
of  justice  of  the  grand  old  county  of  which  it  is  a  part. 

"Upon  occasion  such  as  this,  the  spirit  of  the  past  comes 
over  us  with  its  mystic  power.  The  years  roll  back,  and 
splendid  farms,  stately  homes,  magnificent  churches,  and  the 
marvellous  appliances  of  modern  life  are  for  the  moment  lost 
to  view.  The  blooming  prairie,  the  log  cabin  nestling  near 
the  border-line  of  grove  or  forest,  the  old  water-mill,  the  cross 
roads  store,  the  flintlock  rifle,  the  mould-board  plough,  the 
dinner-horn, —  with  notes  sweeter  than  lute  or  harp  ever 
knew, —  are  once  more  in  visible  presence.  At  such  an  hour 
little  stretch  of  the  imagination  is  needed  to  recall  from  the 
shadows  forms  long  since  vanished.  And  what  time  more 
fitting  can  ever  come  in  which  to  speak  of  those  who  have 
gone  before, —  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  good  county? 

"It  was  from  the  beginning  the  fit  abode  for  men  and 
women  of  God's  highest  type  —  and  such,  indeed,  were  the 
pioneers.  Their  early  struggles,  their  sacrifices,  all  they 
suffered  and  endured,  can  never  be  fully  disclosed.  But  to 
them  this  was  truly  '  the  promised  land '  — a  land  they  might 
not  only  view,  but  possess.  From  New  England,  Ohio,  the 
'Keystone/  and  the  'Empire'  State,  from  the  beautiful  valley 
of  the  Shenandoah  and  the  Commonwealths  lying  westward 
and  to  the  south,  came  the  men  and  the  women  whose  early 
homes  were  near  the  banks  of  the  little  streams  and  nestled 
in  the  shades  of  the  majestic  groves.  Here  they  suffered  the 
hardships  and  endured  the  privations  that  only  the  frontiers 
man  might  know.  Here  beneath  humble  roofs,  their  children 
were  bora  and  reared,  and  here  from  hearts  that  knew  no 
guile  ascended  the  incense  of  thanksgiving  and  praise.  The 
early  settlers,  the  pioneers,  the  men  who  laid  the  foundations 


416          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

of  what  our  eyes  now  behold,  builded  wisely  and  well.  Their 
descendants  to-day  are  in  large  measure  the  beneficiaries  of 
all  that  they  so  wisely  planned,  so  patiently  endured.  Their 
names  and  something  of  what  they  achieved  will  go  down  in 
our  annals  to  the  after  times.  Peace  to  their  ashes;  to  their 
memory  all  honor!  They  were  the  advance  guard  —  the 
builders  —  and  faithfully  and  well  they  served  their  race  and 
time.  Upon  nobler  men  and  women  the  sun  in  all  his  course 
hath  nowhere  looked  down. 

"And  where  upon  God's  footstool  can  domain  more  mag 
nificent  than  this  good  county  be  found;  one  better  adapted 
to  the  habitation  of  civilized  man?  The  untrodden  prairies 
of  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  as  if  touched  by  the  wand 
of  magic,  have  become  splendid  farms.  And  groves  more 
beautiful  the  eye  of  man  hath  not  seen. 

"Containing  a  population  of  less  than  two  thousand  at 
the  time  of  its  organization,  there  are  more  than  seventy 
thousand  souls  within  the  bounds  of  this  good  county  to-day. 
The  log  cabin  has  given  way  to  the  comfortable  home.  The 
value  of  farm  lands  and  their  products  have  increased  beyond 
human  forecast  or  dream.  As  shown  by  the  last  Govern 
mental  report,  McLean  County  contains  four  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-three  farms,  aggregating  seven  hun 
dred  thirty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
acres.  The  corn  product  for  the  year  1899  exceeded  fifteen 
millions  of  bushels,  being  near  one-twentieth  of  that  of  the 
entire  State.  In  the  value  of  its  agricultural  products  it  is 
third  upon  the  list  of  counties  in  the  United  States. 

"The  life  of  the  farmer  is  no  longer  one  of  drudgery  and 
isolation.  Modern  conveniences  and  appliances  have  in 
large  measure  supplanted  the  hard  labor  of  human  hands, 
lessened  the  hours  of  daily  toil,  and  brought  the  occupant  of 
the  farm  into  closer  touch  with  the  outer  world.  More  than 
all  this,  our  schoolhouses,  universities,  churches,  and  insti 
tutions  for  the  relief  of  the  unfortunate  and  dependent,  all 
bear  witness  to  the  glad  fact  that  in  our  material  development 
the  claims  of  education,  of  religion,  of  charity,  have  not  been 
forgotten.  It  is  our  glory,  that  in  all  that  tends  to  human 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      417 

progress,  in  all  that  ministers  to  human  distress,  in  whatever 
appeals  to  and  develops  what  is  best  in  man,  or  brings  con 
tentment  and  happiness  to  the  home  —  in  a  word,  hi  the 
grand  march  of  civilization  —  McLean  County  moves  hi  the 
van. 

"  Possibly  no  occasion  more  fitting  can  arise  in  which 
briefly  to  speak  of  the  organization  of  McLean  County,  and 
something  of  important  events  of  its  history.  At  the  session 
of  the  Legislature  at  Vandalia  in  the  winter  of  1830-31,  a 
petition  —  borne  to  the  State  capital  by  Thomas  Orendorff 
and  James  Latta  —  was  duly  presented,  praying  for  the  or 
ganization  of  a  new  county  to  be  taken  from  Tazewell 
and  Vermilion.  The  territory  embraced  in  the  proposed 
county  included  the  presents  limits  of  McLean  and  large 
portions  of  neighboring  counties  organized  at  a  later  day. 
In  accordance  with  the  petition,  a  bill  was  passed,  and  its 
approval  by  the  Governor  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  Decem 
ber,  1830,  marks  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  this  good 
county. 

"The  name  of  'McLean'  was  adopted  upon  the  motion 
of  the  Hon.  William  Lee  D.  Ewing,  some  of  whose  kindred 
have  for  many  years  been  residents  of  this  city.  Mr.  Ewing 
had  been  the  close  friend  of  the  man  whose  name  he  thus 
honored,  and  was  himself  hi  later  years  a  distinguished 
Senator  in  Congress. 

"By  the  terms  of  the  bill  mentioned,  the  seat  of  justice 
of  said  county  was  to  be  'called  and  known  by  the  name  of 
Bloomington.'  It  was  further  provided  that  until  other 
wise  ordered  the  courts  of  said  county  should  be  held  at 
the  house  of  James  Allen.  The  first  term  of  the  Circuit 
Court  was  held  in  April,  1831,  at  the  place  indicated,  the 
historic  'Stipp  House/  but  recently  standing,  a  pathetic 
reminder  of  by-gone  days.  The  presiding  judge  of  that 
court  was  the  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Lockwood,  of  Springfield  —  an 
able  and  eminent  jurist  of  spotless  record.  By  legislative 
enactment,  five  times  since  its  organization,  valuable  por 
tions  of  McLean  —  aggregating  nearly  four-sevenths  of  its 
original  territory  —  have  been  carved  in  the  formation  of  the 


418  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

counties  of  Logan,  Livingston,  Piatt,  DeWitt,  and  Woodford. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  McLean  County  yet  remains  — 
and  by  constitutional  inhibition  and  the  wisdom  of  our  people 
will  for  all  time  remain  —  the  largest  county  in  the  State. 

"  A  word  now  of  the  man  whose  name  was  upon  every  in 
vitation  to  this  home-coming,  in  honor  of  whom  this  county 
was  named,  John  McLean,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  dis 
tinguished  of  the  first  generation  of  public  men  in  Illinois. 
Born  in  North  Carolina  in  1791,  his  early  years  were  spent  in 
Kentucky.  In  the  last-named  State  he  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Bar.  He  removed  to  Illinois  in  1815  and 
located  in  Shawneetown  upon  the  Ohio  River  for  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  The  county  of  Gallatin,  his  future  home, 
was  then  one  of  the  most  populous  in  the  Illinois  Territory. 
In  fact,  at  the  time  mentioned,  and  for  some  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  State,  there  were  few  important  settle 
ments  one  hundred  miles  north  of  the  Ohio  River. 

"In  the  largest  degree  Mr.  McLean  was  gifted  with  the 
qualities  essential  to  popular  leadership  in  the  new  State. 
He  was  present  at  all  public  assemblages  whether  convened 
for  business  or  pastime,  and  a  leading  spirit  in  all  the 
amusements  and  sports  of  the  hour.  But  'men  are  as 
the  time  is.'  At  all  events,  if  the  testimony  of  his  con 
temporaries  is  to  be  taken,  his  popularity  knew  no  bounds. 
The  late  General  McClernand,  his  fellow-townsman,  said  of 
Mr.  McLean: 

' ' '  His  personality  interested  and  impressed  me.  The  image 
of  it  still  lingers  in  my  memory.  Physically,  he  was  well  de 
veloped,  tall,  strong,  and  stately.  Socially,  he  was  affable  and 
genial,  and  his  conversation  sparkled  with  wit  and  humor.' 

"The  following  words  of  another  contemporary,  Governor 
Reynolds,  are  of  interest: 

1 ' '  Mr.  McLean  was  a  man  of  gigantic  mind,  of  noble  and 
manly  form,  and  of  lofty,  dignified  bearing.  His  personality  was 
large,  and  formed  on  that  natural  excellence  which  at  all  times 
attracted  the  attention  and  admiration  of  all  beholders.  The 
vigor  and  compass  of  his  intellect  was  exceedingly  great,  and 
his  eloquence  flowed  in  torrents,  deep,  strong,  and  almost 
irresistible.' 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      419 

"At  the  election  immediately  succeeding  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  under  which  Illinois  was  admitted  into 
the  Union,  Mr.  McLean  was  chosen  the  Representative  in 
Congress.  Soon  thereafter,  he  presented  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  the  State  Constitution  then  recently  adopted 
at  Kaskaskia;  and  upon  its  formal  acceptance  by  that  body, 
Mr.  McLean  was  duly  admitted  to  his  seat  as  the  first  Repre 
sentative  from  Illinois  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  defeated  for  reelection  by  the  Hon.  Daniel  P.  Cook, 
one  of  the  most  gifted  men  Illinois  has  known  at  any  period 
of  her  history. 

"  Rarely  have  men  of  greater  eloquence  than  Cook  and 
McLean  been  antagonists  in  debate  either  upon  the  hustings 
or  in  the  halls  of  legislation.  With  the  people  of  the  entire 
State  for  an  audience,  the  exciting  issues  of  that  eventful 
period  were  argued  with  an  eloquence  seldom  heard  in  fo 
rensic  discussion.  In  very  truth,  each  was  the  worthy  an 
tagonist  of  the  other.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  with 
the  single  exception  of  the  masterful  intellectual  combat 
more  than  a  third  of  a  century  later  between  Lincoln  and 
Douglas,  Illinois  has  been  the  theatre  of  no  greater  debate. 

"Upon  his  retirement  from  Congress,  Mr.  McLean  was 
elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  and 
subsequently  chosen  Speaker  of  that  body.  The  valuable 
service  he  there  rendered  is  an  important  part  of  the  early 
history  of  the  State.  He  resigned  the  speakership  in  order 
the  more  effectually  to  lead  the  opposition  to  a  bill  charter 
ing  a  State  bank.  His  prediction  as  to  the  evils  to  the  State, 
of  which  the  proposed  legislation  would  be  the  sure  forerunner, 
were  more  than  verified  by  subsequent  events.  More  than  a 
decade  had  passed  before  the  people  were  relieved  of  the 
financial  ills  which  John  McLean  ineffectually  sought  to  avert. 
No  other  evidence  of  his  statesmanship  is  needed  than  his 
masterly  speech  in  opposition  to  the  ill-timed  legislation  I 
have  indicated. 

"  Apart  from  the  fact  that  his  name  is  continually  upon 
our  lips,  the  career  of  Mr.  McLean  is  well  calculated  to  excite 
our  profound  interest.  During  the  fifteen  years  of  his  resi- 


420  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

dence  in  Illinois,  he  held  the  high  positions  of  Representative 
in  Congress,  Speaker  of  the  popular  branch  of  the  State  Leg 
islature,  and  was  twice  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  At  his  last  election  he  received  every  vote  of  the 
joint  session  of  the  General  Assembly  —  an  honor  of  which 
few  even  of  the  most  eminent  of  our  statesmen  have  been 
the  recipients. 

"His  personal  integrity  was  beyond  question,  and  it  may 
truly  be  said  of  him  that  he  ably  and  faithfully  discharged 
every  public  duty.  He  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-nine,  the 
period  when,  to  most  public  men,  a  career  of  usefulness  and 
distinction  has  scarcely  begun.  Upon  the  occasion  of  the 
announcement  of  his  death  to  the  Senate  his  colleague,  Sen 
ator  Kane,  paid  an  eloquent  tribute  to  his  lofty  character, 
his  ability,  and  his  worth,  and  deplored  the  loss  his  State 
had  sustained  in  his  early  death. 

"He  lies  buried  in  the  State  that  had  so  signally  honored 
him,  near  the  beautiful  river  upon  whose  banks  he  found  a 
home  when  Illinois  was  yet  a  wilderness.  Such,  in  brief,  was 
the  man  McLean,  whose  honored  name  this  good  county  will 
hand  down  to  the  after  times.  No  higher  tribute  need  be 
paid  to  his  memory  than  to  say,  his  name  was  worthy  this 
magnificent  domain  to  which  it  was  given. 

"In  no  part  of  this  broad  land  has  there  been  more  prompt 
response  than  in  this  to  the  authoritative  call  to  arms.  In 
the  largest  measure  McLean  County  has  met  every  require 
ment  that  patriotism  could  demand.  Full  and  to  overflow 
ing  has  been  her  contribution  of  means  and  of  men. 

"In  almost  the  last  struggle  with  the  savage  foe,  as  he 
burned  his  wigwam  and  disappeared  before  the  inexorable 
advance  of  civilized  men ;  in  the  War  with  Mexico,  by  which 
States  were  added  to  our  national  domain;  in  that  of  the 
great  Rebellion,  where  the  life  of  the  nation  was  at  stake, 
and  in  our  recent  conflict  with  Spain  —  four  times  during  a 
history  that  spans  but  a  single  life,  McLean  County  has  sent 
her  full  quota  of  soldiers  to  the  field.  Few  survive  of  the 
gallant  band  who  stood  with  Bissell  and  Hardin  at  Buena 
Vista,  or  followed  Shields  and  Baker  through  the  burning 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      421 

sands  from  the  Gulf  to  the  City  of  Mexico.  And  at  each 
successive  reunion  of  comrades  in  the  great  civil  strife,  there 
are  fewer,  and  yet  fewer,  responses  to  the  solemn  roll-call. 

14  'On  Fame's  eternal  camping-ground, 
Their  silent  tents  are  spread.' 

"And  what  a  record  is  that  of  this  glorious  county  dur 
ing  the  eventful  years  of  J61-'65  !  With  a  population  of 
but  forty  per  cent  of  that  of  to-day,  more  than  four  thou 
sand  of  her  brave  sons  marched  gallantly  to  the  front. 
They  gathered  from  farm,  from  shop,  from  mart  and  hall  — 
to  die,  if  need  be,  that  their  country  might  live.  On  many 
fields  now  historic,  where  brave  men  struggled  and  died, 
soldiers  from  this  grand  county  were  steadily  in  line.  Along 
every  pathway  of  danger  and  of  glory  they  were  to  be  found. 
In  every  grade  of  rank  were  heroes  as  knightly  as  ever  fought 
beneath  a  plume.  Even  to  name  the  heroes  that  old  McLean 
equipped  for  the  great  conflict  would  be  but  to  call  over  her 
muster  rolls  of  officers  and  men. 

"The  chords  of  memory  are  touched  as  the  vision  of  the 
Old  Courthouse  rises  before  us.  Its  walls  were  the  silent 
witnesses  of  events  that  would  make  resplendent  the  pages 
of  history.  Here  assembled  lawyers,  orators,  statesmen, 
whose  names  have  been  given  to  the  ages.  Here,  at  a  critical 
period  in  our  history  the  great  masters  of  debate  discussed 
vital  questions  of  state  —  questions  that  took  hold  of  the  life 
of  the  republic.  Here,  at  times,  debate  touched  the  springs  of 
political  power.  Here  in  the  high  place  of  authority  sat  one 
destined  later  to  wear  the  ermine  of  the  greatest  court  known 
to  men.  During  his  membership  of  that  court  in  the  eventful 
years  immediately  following  the  great  conflict,  questions  novel 
and  far-reaching  pressed  for  determination;  questions  no  less 
important  than  those  which  had  in  the  infancy  of  the  republic 
exhausted  the  learning  of  Marshall  and  his  associates.  It  is 
our  pride  that  our  townsman,  David  Davis,  was  among  the 
ablest  of  the  great  court,  by  whose  adjudication  renewed  vigor 
was  given  to  the  Constitution,  and  enduring  safeguards  estab 
lished  for  national  life  and  individual  liberty. 


422  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"To  the  Old  Courthouse  in  the  early  days  came  the  tal 
ented  and  genial  James  A.  McDougal,  then  just  upon  the 
threshold  of  a  brilliant  career,  which  culminated  in  his  election 
as  a  Senator  from  California;  also  John  T.  Stuart,  the  able 
lawyer  and  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  He  was  a  Repre 
sentative  in  Congress  more  than  two-thirds  of  a  century  ago, 
when  his  district  embraced  all  Central  and  Northern  Illinois 
—  extending  from  a  line  fifty  miles  south  of  Springfield  to 
Chicago  and  Galena.  In  Congress  he  was  the  political  asso 
ciate  and  friend  of  Webster,  of  Crittenden,  and  of  Clay.  Many 
years  ago,  upon  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Stuart's  last  visit  to 
Bloomington,  he  told  me,  as  we  stood  by  the  old  'Stipp'  home, 
that  he  there,  in  1831,  witnessed  the  beginning  of  the  judicial 
history  of  McLean  County,  when  Judge  Lockwood  opened 
its  first  court.  With  deep  emotion  he  added  that  he  was 
probably  the  last  survivor  of  those  then  assembled,  and  that 
his  own  days  were  almost  numbered.  His  words  were  pro 
phetic,  as  but  a  few  months  elapsed  before  he,  too,  had  passed 
beyond  the  veil.  There  came  also  Edward  D.  Baker,  Rep 
resentative  from  Illinois  and  Senator  from  Oregon.  To  him 
Nature  had  been  lavish  with  her  gifts.  His  eloquence  cast 
a  spell  about  all  who  heard  him.  As  was  said  of  the  gifted 
Prentiss:  'The  empyrean  height  into  which  he  soared  was 
his  home,  as  the  upper  air  the  eagle's.'  Our  language  con 
tains  few  gems  of  eloquence  comparable  to  his  wondrous 
eulogy  on  the  lamented  Broderick.  His  own  tragic  death  in 
one  of  the  early  battles  of  the  great  war  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
nation. 

"In  his  official  capacity  as  prosecuting  attorney  came  also 
to  the  Old  Courthouse  the  youthful  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  A 
born  leader  of  men,  with  a  courage  and  eloquence  rarely 
equalled,  he  was  well  equipped  for  the  hurly-burly  of  our 
early  political  conflicts.  Save  only  in  his  last  great  contest, 
he  was  a  stranger  to  defeat.  Public  Prosecutor,  Member  of 
the  Legislature,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State;  later  a  Representative,  and 
at  the  age  of  thirty-three  a  Senator  in  Congress,  Amid 
storms  of  passion  such  as,  please  God,  we  may  not  see  again, 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      423 

he  there  held  high  debate  with  Seward,  Chase,  and  Sumner; 
and  measured  swords  with  Tombs,  Benjamin,  and  Jefferson 
Davis  upon  vital  issues  which,  transferred  later  from  forum 
and  from  Senate,  were  to  find  bloody  arbitrament  by  arms. 
Beginning  near  the  spot  where  we  have  to-day  assembled,  the 
career  of  Douglas  was  indeed  marvellous.  Defeated  for  the 
great  office  which  had  been  the  goal  of  his  ambition;  amid 
the  war-clouds  gathering  over  the  nation,  and  the  yet  darker 
shadows  falling  about  his  couch,  he  aroused  himself  to  the 
last  supreme  effort,  and  in  words  that  touched  millions  of 
responsive  chords,  adjured  all  who  had  followed  his  political 
fortunes  to  know  only  their  country  in  its  hour  of  peril.  With 
his  pathetic  words  yet  lingering,  and  '  before  manhood's  morn 
ing  touched  its  noon,'  Douglas  passed  to  the  great  beyond. 
"Out  of  the  shadowy  past  another  form  is  evoked,  famil 
iar  once  to  some  who  hear  me  now.  Another  name,  greater 
than  any  yet  spoken,  is  upon  our  lips.  Of  Abraham  Lincoln 
the  words  of  the  great  orator,  Bossuet,  when  he  pronounced 
his  matchless  eulogy  upon  the  Prince  of  Conde*,  might  truly 
be  spoken: 

'"At  the  moment  I  open  my  lips  to  celebrate  the  immortal 
glory  of  the  Prince  of  Cond£,  I  find  myself  equally  overwhelmed 
by  the  greatness  of  the  theme  and  the  needlessness  of  the  task. 
What  part  of  the  habitable  globe  has  not  heard  of  the  wonders 
of  his  life?  Everywhere  they  are  rehearsed.  His  own  country 
men,  in  extolling  them,  can  give  no  information  even  to  the 
stranger.' 

"Of  Lincoln  no  words  can  be  uttered  or  withheld  that 
could  add  to  or  detract  from  his  imperishable  fame.  His 
name  is  the  common  heritage  of  all  people  and  all  times. 

"When  in  the  loom  of  time  have  such  words  been  heard 
above  the  din  of  fierce  conflict  as  his  sublime  utterances  but 
a  brief  time  before  his  tragic  death? 

" '  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness 
in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds;  to 
care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow, 
and  his  orphan  —  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a 
just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations/ 


424  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

"The  men  who  knew  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  saw  him 
face  to  face,  who  met  him  upon  our  streets,  and  heard  his 
voice  in  our  public  assemblages,  have,  with  few  exceptions, 
passed  to  the  grave.  Another  generation  is  upon  the  busy 
stage.  The  book  has  forever  closed  upon  the  dread  pageant 
of  civil  strife.  Sectional  animosities,  thank  God,  belong  now 
only  to  the  past.  The  mantle  of  peace  is  over  our  entire  land, 
and  prosperity  within  all  our  borders. 

"'Till  the  war-drum  throbs  no  longer, 
And  the  battle-flags  are  furled 
In  the  parliament  of  man, 
The  federation  of  the  world.' 

"Through  the  instrumentality  in  no  small  measure  of 
the  man  personally  known  to  some  who  hear  me,  the  man 
McLean  County  delighted  to  honor,  no  less  as  a  private  citizen 
than  as  President,  this  Government,  untouched  by  the  finger 
of  time,  has  descended  to  us.  Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that 
the  responsibility  of  its  preservation  and  transmission  will 
rest  upon  the  successive  generations  of  his  countrymen,  as 
they  shall  come  and  go. 

"Truly  has  it  been  said :  ' To-day  is  the  pupil  of  yesterday/ 
and  also  '  History  is  the  great  teacher  of  human  nature  by 
means  of  object-lessons  drawn  from  the  whole  recorded  life 
of  human  nature.'  There  is,  then,  no  dead  past.  Every 
event  is  in  a  measure  significant.  The  annals  of  the  ambi 
tions,  the  crimes,  the  miseries,  the  wrongs,  the  struggles, 
the  achievements  of  men  in  the  long  past  are  fraught  with 
lessons  of  deep  import  to  all  succeeding  generations.  Each 
age  is  the  heir  to  that  which  preceded.  We  make  progress 
in  proportion  as  we  wisely  ponder  significant  events. 

"McLean  County  had  its  historical  beginning  as  a  de 
pendent  but  distinct  political  organization  on  the  joyous 
Christmas  Day  of  1830.  Stretching  backward  from  that 
date,  its  history  is  bound  up  solely  in  that  of  Illinois,  under 
its  various  organizations  and  names.  A  brief  time  upon 
occasion  such  as  this  given  to  a  hurried  review  of  the  masterful 
epochs  in  the  history  of  the  great  State  of  which  our  own 
county  is  so  important  a  part,  cannot  be  wholly  misspent. 


THE  "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      425 

Bearing  in  mind  that  'that  which  comes  after  ever  conforms 
to  that  which  has  gone  before/  significant  events  of  the  past 
must  be  known,  to  the  end  that  we  intelligently  comprehend 
the  present,  and  are  enabled,  even  in  scant  measure,  to  fore 
cast  the  future. 

"No  State  of  the  American  Union  has  a  history  of  more 
intense  interest  than  our  own.  Its  early  chapters,  indeed, 
savor  of  the  romantic  rather  than  of  the  real.  I  do  not  speak 
of  the  long-ago  time  when  Illinois  forest  and  prairie  were  the 
home  and  hunting-ground  of  the  red  man,  and  his  frail  bark 
the  only  craft  known  to  its  rivers.  That  period  belongs  to 
the  border-land  age  of  tradition  rather  than  of  veritable 
history.  It  is  of  Illinois  under  the  domination  of  civilized 
men  I  would  speak. 

"For  near  a  century  preceding  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in 
1763,  '  the  Illinois  country'  was  a  part  of  the  French  domain. 
Inseparably  linked  with  that  portion  of  its  history  are  names 
that  will  live  with  those  of  the  Cabots  and  Columbus.  The 
great  navigator  in  his  lonely  search  for  a  new  pathway  to  the 
Indies  was  buoyed  by  a  courage,  a  yearning  for  discovery, 
scarce  greater  than  that  which  in  the  heart  of  the  new  con 
tinent  sustained  the  later  voyagers  and  disco verers,Marquette, 
Joliet,  Hennepin,  and  La  Salle. 

"America's  obligation  to  France  is  enduring  —  for  ex 
plorers  in  the  seventeenth  century  no  less  than  for  defenders 
in  that  which  immediately  followed.  The  historic  page 
which  tells  of  the  lofty  heroism  of  LaFayette  has  for  us  no 
deeper  interest  than  that  which  records  the  daring  achieve 
ments  of  the  early  French  pathfinders  and  voyagers.  Two 
centuries  and  a  half  ago  Marquette  and  Joliet,  bearing  the 
commission  of  the  French  Governor  of  Quebec,  embarked 
upon  their  expedition  for  the  discovery  of  new  countries  to 
the  southward.  Animated  by  the  earnest  desire  of  extending 
the  blessings  of  religion  no  less  than  that  of  adding  to  the 
domain  of  their  imperial  master,  they  set  out  upon  an  expedi 
tion  which  has  become  historic.  The  bare  recital  of  what 
befell  them  would  fill  volumes.  Now  meeting  with  the 
scattered  tribes  of  Indians,  bestowing  presents  and  in  turn 


426  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

sharing  the  hospitality  offered;  now  speaking  wordsof  admoni 
tion  and  of  instruction;  now  gathering  up  the  crude  materials 
for  history;  now  reverently  setting  up  the  cross  in  the  wil 
derness;  again  threading  the  pathless  forests,  or  in  frail  barks 
sailing  unknown  waters,  they  pursued  their  perilous  journey. 

"In  time,  after  looking  out  upon  the  waters  of  Lake 
Michigan,  crossing  Lake  Winnebago,  visiting  the  ancient 
villages  of  the  Kickapoos,  'with  joy  indescribable/  as  Mar- 
quette  declared,  they  for  the  first  time  beheld  the  Mississippi. 
In  June,  1673,  upon  the  east  bank  of  the  great  river,  they 
landed  upon  the  soil  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Illinois.  At 
the  little  village  they  first  visited  they  received  hospitable 
treatment.  Its  inmates  are  known  in  our  early  history  as 
'  the  Illini'  —  a  word  signifying  men.  The  euphonic  termina 
tion  added  by  the  Frenchmen  gives  us  the  name  Illinois.  It 
is  related  that,  upon  the  first  appearance  of  Marquette  and 
Joliet  at  the  door  of  the  principal  wigwam  of  the  village, 
they  were  greeted  by  an  aged  native  with  the  words: ' The  sun 
is  beautiful,  Frenchmen,  when  you  come  to  visit  us;  you 
shall  enter  in  peace  into  all  our  cabins;  it  is  well,  my  brothers, 
you  come.'  In  the  light  of  the  marvellous  results  of  the 
visit,  the  words  of  the  aged  chieftain  seem  prophetic.  We, 
too,  may  say  it  was  well  they  came. 

"The  glory  of  having  discovered  the  upper  Mississippi 
and  the  valley  which  bears  its  name  belongs  to  Marquette 
and  Joliet.  It  was  theirs  to  add  the  vast  domain  under  the 
name  'New  France'  to  the  empire  of  le  Grand  Monarque. 
In  very  truth  a  princely  gift.  But  no  history  of  the  great 
valley  and  the  majestic  river  would  be  complete  which  failed 
to  tell  something  of  the  priest  and  historian,  Hennepin,  and 
of  the  knightly  adventures  of  the  Chevalier  La  Salle. 

"Much,  indeed,  that  is  romantic  surrounds  the  entire 
career  of  La  Salle.  Severing  his  connection  with  a  theological 
school  in  France,  his  fortunes  were  early  cast  in  the  New 
World.  From  Quebec,  the  ancient  French  capital  of  this 
continent,  he  projected  an  expedition  which  was  to  add  empire 
to  his  own  country  and  to  cast  a  glamour  about  his  own  name. 
It  has  been  said  that  his  dream  was  of  a  western  waterway  to 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      427 

the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  1669,  with  an  outfit  that  had  cost  him 
his  entire  fortune,  with  a  small  party  he  ascended  in  canoes 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  a  few  weeks  later  was  upon  the  broad 
Ontario.  Out  of  the  mists  and  shadows  that  enveloped  much 
of  his  subsequent  career,  it  were  impossible  at  all  times  to 
gather  that  which  is  authentic.  It  is  enough  that,  with 
Hennepin  as  one  of  his  fellow-voyagers,  he  reached  the  Ohio 
and  in  due  time  navigated  the  Illinois,  meantime  visiting 
many  of  the  ancient  villages. 

"  But  his  great  achievement  —  and  that  with  which  abides 
his  imperishable  fame  —  was  his  perilous  descent  of  the 
Mississippi  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  On  the  sixth  day  of  April,  1682,  upon  the  east 
bank  of  the  lower  Mississippi,  with  due  form  and  ceremony 
and  amid  the  solemn  chanting  of  the  Te  Deum  and  the 
plaudits  of  his  comrades,  La  Salle  took  formal  possession  of 
the  Louisiana  country  in  the  name  of  his  royal  master,  Louis 
the  Fourteenth  of  France. 

"For  the  period  of  ninety- two  years,  beginning  with  the 
discoveries  of  Marquette  and  Joliet,  the  Illinois  country  was 
a  part  of  the  French  possessions.  Sovereignty  over  the  vast 
domain  of  which  it  was  a  part  was  exercised  by  the  French 
King  through  his  commandant  at  Quebec.  But  as  has  been 
truly  said,  'The  French  sought  and  claimed  more  than  they 
had  the  ability  to  hold  or  possess.  Their  line  of  domain  ex 
tended  from  the  St.  Lawrence  around  the  Great  Lakes  and 
through  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  a 
distance  of  over  three  thousand  miles.'  Truly  a  magnificent 
domain,  but  one  destined  soon  to  pass  forever  from  the 
possession  of  the  French  monarch  and  his  line. 

"The  hour  had  struck,  and  upon  the  North  American 
continent  the  ancient  struggle  for  supremacy  between  France 
and  her  traditional  enemy  was  to  find  bloody  arbitrament. 
Great  Britain  claimed  as  a  part  of  her  colonial  possessions 
in  the  New  World  the  territory  bordering  upon  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  rich  lands  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys. 
As  to  the  merits  of  the  French  and  English  contention  as  to 
superior  right  by  discovery  or  conquest,  it  were  idle  now  to 


428  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

argue.  Our  concern  is  with  the  marvellous  results  of  the 
long-continued  struggle  which  for  all  time  determined  the 
question  of  race  supremacy  upon  this  continent. 

"Passing  rapidly  the  minor  incidents  of  the  varying 
fortunes  of  the  stupendous  struggle  which  had  been  transferred 
for  the  time  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New,  we  reach  the 
hour  which  was  to  mark  an  epoch  in  history.  The  time,  the 
thirteenth  of  September,  1759;  the  place,  the  Heights  of 
Abraham  at  Quebec.  There  and  then  was  fought  out  one  of 
the  pivotal  battles  of  the  ages.  It  was  the  closing  act  in  a 
great  drama.  The  question  to  be  determined:  Whether  the 
English-speaking  race  or  its  hereditary  foe  was  to  be  master 
of  the  continent.  It  was  in  reality  a  struggle  for  empire  — 
the  magnificent  domain  stretching  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  incidents  of  the  battle  need  not 
now  be  told.  Never  were  English  or  French  soldiery  led  by 
more  knightly  captains.  The  passing  years  have  not  dis 
pelled  the  romance  or  dimmed  the  glory  that  gathered  about 
the  names  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm.  Dying  at  the  self-same 
moment  —  one  amid  the  victors,  the  other  amid  the  van 
quished  —  their  names  live  together  in  history. 

"By  the  treaty  of  Paris  which  followed,  France  surren 
dered  to  her  successful  rival  all  claim  to  the  domain  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River.  In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  Gage,  the  commander  of  the  British  forces  in  America, 
took  formal  possession  of  the  recently  conquered  territory. 
Proclamation  of  this  fact  was  made  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Illinois  country  in  1764,  and  a  garrison  soon  thereafter  estab 
lished  at  Kaskaskia.  Here  the  rule  of  the  British  was  for  the 
time  undisputed.  British  domination  in  the  Mississippi  Valley 
was,  however,  to  be  of  short  duration.  Soon  the  events 
were  hastening,  the  forces  gathering,  which  were  in  turn  to 
wrest  from  the  crown  no  small  part  of  the  splendid  domain 
won  by  Wolfe's  brilliant  victory  at  Quebec. 

"In  this  hurried  review  I  reach  now  an  event  of  trans 
cendent  interest  and  one  far-reaching  in  its  consequences. 
While  our  Revolutionary  War  was  in  progress,  and  its  glo 
rious  termination  yet  but  dimly  foreshadowed,  General  George 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      429 

Rogers  Clark  planned  an  expedition  whose  successful  termina 
tion  has  given  his  name  to  the  list  of  great  conquerors. 
Bearing  the  commission  of  Patrick  Henry,  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  with  two  hundred  followers  equally  brave  as  himself, 
the  heroic  Clark  crossed  the  Ohio  and  began  his  perilous 
march.  After  enduring  untold  hardships,  the  undaunted 
leader  and  his  little  band  reached  Kaskaskia.  The  British 
commander  and  his  garrison  were  surprised  and  quickly  cap 
tured.  The  British  flag  was  lowered,  and  on  the  fourth  day  of 
July,  1778,  the  Illinois  country  was  taken  possession  of  in  the 
name  of  the  Commonwealth  whose  Governor  had  authorized 
the  expedition. 

"Five  years  later  occurred  an  event  of  mighty  significance, 
and  of  far-reaching  consequence  —  one  that  hi  very  truth 
marks  the  genesis  of  Illinois  history.  I  refer  to  the  cession 
by  Virginia  of  the  vast  area  stretching  to  the  Mississippi  — 
of  which  the  spot  upon  which  we  are  now  assembled  is  a  part 
— to  the  general  Government.  To  the  deed  of  cession,  by  which 
Illinois  became  a  part  of  the  United  States,  as  commissioners 
upon  the  part  of  Virginia,  were  signed  the  now  historic  names 
of  Arthur  Lee,  James  Monroe,  and  Thomas  Jefferson. 

"The  next  milestone  of  Illinois  upon  the  pathway  to  state 
hood  was  what  is  so  well  known  in  our  political  history  as  the 
Ordinance  of  1787.  Not  inaptly  has  it  been  called '  the  second 
Magna  Charta/  'a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  of  fire  by  night/ 
in  the  settlement  and  government  of  the  Northwestern  States. 
Two  provisions  of  the  great  ordinance  possessed  a  value  that 
cannot  be  measured  by  words:  One,  that  the  States  to  be 
formed  out  of  said  territory  were  to  remain  forever  parts 
of  the  United  States  of  America;  the  other,  that  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  should  exist  therein,  other 
wise  than  for  crime  whereof  the  party  should  have  been  duly 
convicted. 

"The  value  of  the  great  Ordinance  to  millions  who  have 
since  found  homes  within  the  limits  of  the  vast  area  embraced 
within  its  provisions  cannot  be  overstated.  Our  eyes  behold 
to-day  the  marvellous  results  of  the  far-seeing  statesmanship 
in  which  it  was  conceived. 


450  SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

" Momentous  events  now  followed  in  rapid  succession: 
The  disastrous  defeat  of  General  St.  Clair,  first  Governor  of 
the  Northwest  Territory,  near  the  old  Miami  village;  the  ap 
pointment  of  General  Wayne,  hero  of  Stony  Point,  to  the 
command  of  the  Western  army;  his  crushing  defeat  of  the 
Indian  foe  at  the  Maumee  Rapids,  and  the  treaty  of  Green 
ville,  which  for  the  time  gave  protection  to  the  frontiersmen 
against  the  savage;  the  attempt  of  the  French  minister, 
Genet,  to  create  discord  in  the  western  country,  and  in  fact 
to  establish  a  Government  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  inde 
pendent  of  that  of  the  United  States;  and  the  threatened 
conflict  with  Spain  regarding  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  —  all  possess  an  interest  to  Illinoisans  which  time 
cannot  abate. 

"All  apprehension,  however,  was  for  the  time  removed 
by  the  treaty  between  our  Government  and  Spain,  by  which 
it  was  provided  that  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi  should  be 
our  western  border  and  that  the  navigation  of  the  entire 
river  to  the  Gulf  should  be  free  to  all  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  Passing  over  the  later  faithless  attempt  of  Spain 
to  abrogate  this  salient  provision  of  the  treaty,  it  is  enough 
that  the  question  was  forever  put  at  rest  by  the  purchase  by 
our  Government  in  1803,  for  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  from 
the  great  Napoleon,  of  the  entire  Louisiana  country,  stretch 
ing  from  the  Gulf  to  the  domain  of  Canada  —  out  of  which 
have  been  carved  sixteen  magnificent  States,  destined  to 
abide  and  remain  forever  sovereign  parts  of  our  federal  Union. 

"And  while  Spain  has  sustained  crushing  and  retributive 
defeat  and  her  flag  has  disappeared  forever  from  mainland 
and  island  of  the  western  world,  the  great  river,  gathering  its 
tributaries  from  northern  lake  to  southern  sea,  flows  unvexed 
through  a  mighty  realm  that  knows  no  symbol  of  authority 
save  only  our  own  Stars  and  Stripes. 

"Illinois  was  represented  for  the  first  time  in  a  legislative 
chamber  in  the  general  assembly  of  the  Northwest  Territory, 
which  convened  in  Cincinnati  in  1799.  By  act  of  Congress 
in  May,  1800,  a  new  territorial  organization  was  created,  by 
which  the  territory  now  embraced  in  the  States  of  Indiana 


THE   "HOME-COMING"   AT  BLOOMINGTON      431 

and  Illinois  was  formed,  to  be  known  as  'Indiana  Territory/ 
and  the  capital  located  at  Vincennes.  In  February,  1809, 
by  act  of  Congress,  the  ' Territory  of  Illinois'  was  duly  or 
ganized,  its  seat  of  government  established  at  Kaskaskia, 
and  thenceforth  Illinois  has  a  history  separate  and  apart. 
Nine  years  later  —  December,  1818  —  with  a  population 
scarcely  one-half  that  of  McLean  County  to-day,  it  was  duly 
admitted  a  State  of  the  federal  Union. 

"Beginning  with  Illinois  at  the  coming  of  Joliet  and  Mar- 
quette  in  the  seventeenth  century,  we  have  rapidly  fol 
lowed  its  thread  of  history  for  a  century  and  a  half,  until  it 
became  a  State  of  the  American  Union.  We  have  seen  it 
under  the  rule  of  the  Frenchman,  the  Briton,  the  Virginian, 
under  its  various  territorial  organizations,  until  eighty-nine 
years  ago  it  reached  the  dignity  of  statehood.  We  have 
seen  its  seat  of  authority  at  Quebec,  at  New  Orleans,  at  Cin 
cinnati,  at  Vincennes,  and  finally  at  Kaskaskia.  We  have 
noted  something  of  its  marvellous  development,  of  its  wonder 
ful  increase  in  population. 

"Just  one  hundred  and  seven  years  ago,  when  by  act  of 
Congress  Illinois  became  part  of  the  Indiana  Territory,  it 
contained  a  population  of  less  than  two  thousand  white  per 
sons,  only  eight  hundred  of  whom  were  of  the  English-speak 
ing  race.  Less  than  two  decades  later,  with  a  population  of 
less  than  forty  thousand,  and  an  area  greater,  with  a  single 
exception,  than  any  of  the  original  States,  we  have  witnessed 
its  admission  to  the  Union.  How  marvellous  the  retrospect 
at  this  hour!  And  yet,  'the  pendulum  of  history  swings  in 
centuries  in  the  slow  but  sure  progress  of  the  human  race  to 
a  higher  and  nobler  civilization.' 

"Events  of  thrilling  interest  and  of  scarce  less  consequence 
than  those  already  mentioned  followed  the  admission  of  the 
State  into  the  Union.  In  brief  summary:  The  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  introduce  slavery;  the  fatal  duel  between  Stewart 
and  Bennet  and  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  survivor  for 
murder,  thereby  placing  the  ban  of  judicial  condemnation 
upon  the  barbarous  practice;  the  visit  of  LaFayette  to 
Illinois  and  his  brilliant  entertainment  by  the  Governor  and 


432          SOMETHING  OF  MEN  I  HAVE  KNOWN 

Legislature  at  the  old  executive  mansion;  the  removal  of  the 
State  capital  from  the  ancient  French  village  of  Kaskaskia 
to  Vandalia,  and  near  two  decades  later  to  Springfield;  the 
memorable  contest  for  Congress  between  Cook  and  McLean, 
each  possessing  in  large  measure  the  rare  gift  of  eloquence, 
and  both  dying  lamented  in  early  manhood;  the  organiza 
tion  of  two  splendid  counties  that  will  keep  the  honored  names 
of  Cook  and  McLean  in  the  memories  of  men  to  the  latest 
posterity;  the  Black  Hawk  War  and  the  final  treaty  of  peace 
which  followed  the  defeat  and  capture  of  the  renowned  Sac 
chief;  the  riots  at  Alton  and  the  assassination  of  the  heroic 
Love  joy  while  defending  the  right  of  free  speech  and  of  a  free 
press;  the  advent  of  the  prophet  Joseph  Smith,  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  Mormon  Church,  its  power  as  a  political  factor  in 
the  State,  the  building  of  the  million-dollar  temple  at  Nauvoo, 
the  murder  of  the  Mormon  prophet,  and  the  final  exodus  of 
his  adherents  to  the  valley  of  the  Wasatch  and  the  Great 
Salt  Lake;  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal,  the  precursor  of  grander  material  achievements  soon 
to  follow;  the  bravery  of  the  Illinois  troops  during  the  war 
with  Mexico;  the  wonderful  tide  of  immigration  flowing  in 
from  the  older  States  and  from  Europe;  the  invaluable  serv 
ices  of  Senator  Douglas  in  securing  the  celebrated  land  grant 
under  which  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  constructed, 
and  Chicago  brought  into  commercial  touch  with  the  River 
Ohio  and  the  States  to  the  southward;  the  dawn  of  the  era 
of  stupendous  agricultural  development,  and  of  marvellous 
activity  on  all  lines,  and  through  all  channels  of  trade;  the 
wonderful  growth  of  Chicago,  springing  with  giant  bound, 
within  the  span  of  a  single  life,  from  a  mere  hamlet  to  be  the 
second  city  upon  the  continent;  the  unparalleled  railroad 
construction,  giving  Illinois  a  greater  mileage  than  any  one 
of  her  sister  States;  the  immense  development  of  its  untold 
mineral  resources,  and  the  advance  by  leaps  and  bounds  along 
all  lines  of  manufacturing;  the  impetus  given  to  the  higher 
conception  and  purpose  of  human  life  by  the  creation  of  a 
splendid  system  of  public  schools  and  universities;  the  estab 
lishment  of  institutions  and  asylums  for  the  considerate  care 


THE   "HOME-COMING"  AT  BLOOMINGTON      433 

and  relief  of  the  unfortunate  and  afflicted  of  our  kind;  the 
building  of  homes  'for  him  who  hath  borne  the  battle  and 
for  his  orphan7;  the  masterful  debates  between  Lincoln  and 
Douglas,  the  prelude  to  events  destined  to  give  pause  to  the 
world,  and  to  change  the  trend  of  history.  And,  to  crown  all, 
how,  when  the  nation's  life  was  in  peril,  Illinois,  true  to  her 
covenant  under  the  great  Ordinance  that  had  given  her  being, 
gave  one  illustrious  son  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  his  country, 
another  to  the  captaincy  of  its  armies,  and  sent  her  soldier 
heroes  by  myriads  along  every  pathway  of  danger  and  of 
glory. 

"As  one  standing,  alas,  'upon  the  western  slope/  let  me 
adjure  the  young  men  of  this  magnificent  county  —  my 
home  for  more  than  half  a  century  —  to  study  thoroughly  the 
history  of  our  own  State,  and  of  the  grand  republic  of  which 
it  is  a  part.  Illinois,  in  all  that  constitutes  true  grandeur 
in  a  people,  knows  no  superior  among  the  great  sisterhood 
of  States.  Her  pathway  from  the  beginning  has  been  lumi 
nous  with  noble  achievement.  It  is  high  privilege  and  high 
honor  to  be  a  citizen  of  this  grand  republic.  It  is  in  very 
truth  a  government  of  the  people,  in  an  important  sense  a 
government  standing  separate  and  apart;  its  foundations 
the  morality,  the  intelligence,  the  patriotism  of  the  people. 
Never  forget  that  citizenship  in  such  a  government  carries 
with  it  tremendous  responsibility,  a  responsibility  that  we 
cannot  evade.  Study  thoroughly  how  our  liberties  were 
achieved,  and  the  benefits  of  stable  government  secured  by 
the  great  compact  which  for  more  than  a  century,  in 
peace  and  during  the  storm  and  stress  of  war,  has  held 
States  and  people  in  indissoluble  union;  and  how,  during  the 
great  civil  conflict  —  the  most  stupendous  the  world  has 
known  —  human  liberty,  through  baptism  of  blood,  obtained 
a  new  and  grander  meaning,  and  the  Union  established  by 
our  fathers  was  made,  as  we  humbly  trust  in  God,  enduring 
for  all  time." 

THE  END 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Governor,  242 

Adams,  John,  24,  60,  61,  63,  87, 

221,  336,  337 
Adams,  John  Quincy,   14,  31,  76, 

94,  98,  102,  139,  140,  147,  154, 

159,  178,  194,  307 
Aldrich,  Senator,  24 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  79 
Allen,  John,  268-272 
Allison,  Senator,  227 
Alschuler,  Hon.  Samuel,  302 
Ames,  Fisher,  159 
Amnesty  Bill,  General,  12,  19,  23 
Andre",  Major,  20 
Archer,  Representative,  39 
Armstrong,  W.,  247,  249 
Arnold,  Benedict,  20,  22 
Arrington,  Judge  A.  W.,  251-255 
Arthur,  Chester  A.,  61,  62 
Ashburton  Treaty,  310 


B 


Bainbridge,  Captain,  149 

Baker,  Senator  E.  D.,  93,  96,  167, 

402,  409,  420,  422 
Baldwin,  Judge,  41,  183,  311,  386, 

404 
Baltimore  convention,  of  1844,  128; 

of  1860,  124,  125 
Banks,  Hon.  Nathaniel  P.,  22,  23 
Barrett,  Lawrence,  302 
Barron,  James,  148-150 
Barry,  William  T.,  143,  144 
Bascom,  Henry  B.,  322,  332 
Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  240 
Beauregard,  General,  101 
Beck,  Senator  James  B.,  36,  384, 

385 

Belknap,  General,  13,  79 
Bell,  John,  102,  194,  339 
Benjamin,  Senator,  114,  423 
Bennett,  William,  170, 185, 186,  431 
Benton,  Thomas  H.,  102,  138,  154, 

194,  220,  222,  339 
Berrien,  J.  M.,  141,  143,  144 


Bingham,  John  A.,  263,  266,  267 
Bissell,  Governor,  171,  420 
Black,  Judge,  13 
Blackburn,  J.  C.  S.,  18,  36-38 
Bladensburg,  Md.,  146-154 
Blaine,   James  G.,    12,    18-21,  23, 

109,  112,  124,  134,  227,  240 
Blair,  Francis  P.,  138 
"Blind    Preacher,"    see    Milburn, 

Rev.  W.  H. 
Blodgett,  Judge,  205 
"Bloody  Island,"  171 
Bloomington,  111.,  401,  414-417 
Blount,  Representative,  159 
Boggs,  Governor,  205 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  84,  85,  88 
Bond,  Governor  Shadrack,  171,  184 
Booth,  Edwin,  303,  305 
Booth,  Wilkes,  303,  304 
Boutwell,  George  S.,  263,  265 
Boyd,  Linn,  98,  227 
Branch,  John,  141,  143,  144 
Brandon,  Vt.,  92,  93 
Breckenridge,  Senator  John  C.,  36, 

61,  121,  125,  339 
Breckenridge,  Rev.  Dr.,  407 
Breese,  Sidney,  98,  102,  104,  339 
Broderick,  David  C.,  167,  422 
Brown,  Judge,  334 
Brown,  Welcome  P.,  379 
Browning,  Hon.  Orville  H.,  93,  96, 

213,  409 

Bryan,  William  J.,  315-317 
Buchanan,  James,   106,   107,   114, 

194,  339 
Buena  Vista,  battle  of,  95,  171,  214, 

216,  256,  420 
Bullock,  Rev.  Dr.,  29 
Burgess,  Tristram,  55 
Burns,  John,  274 
Burr,   Aaron,   60,   63,  75,   76,  79, 

158,  160-166 
Burr,  Rev.  Aaron,  161 
Burr,  Mrs.  Edith,  161 
Burr,  Theodosia,  166 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  80,  125,  263, 

266,  267 

Butler,  Rev.  Dr.,  37 
Butterfield,  Justin,  408-410 


435 


436 


INDEX 


Butterworth.  Hon.  Benjamin.  52. 

53 
Bynum,  Representative,  151 


C 


Cadwallader,  Colonel,  156 
Calhoun,  John  C.,  61,  102,  104,  143, 

144,  154,  194,  339,  381,  382 
Calhoun,  Rev.  John  Y.,  19 
California,  103,  125,  168 
Campbell,  Alexander,  322 
Campbell,  David  B.,  402 
Campbell,  Thompson,  170 
Cannon,  Hon.  Frank  J.,  197 
Cannon,  George  Q.,  197, 198 
Cannon,  Hon.  Joseph  G.,  23,  24, 

246 

Carlin,  Governor,  195 
Carlisle,    Representative,    53,    54, 

355 

Carpenter,  Hon.  Matthew  H.,  13 
Carthage,  111.,  209,  210 
Cartwright,    Peter,    229-238,    290, 

322  332 
Cass,  Senator,  154,  194,  224,  339, 

381 

Caton,  John  D.,  97 
Chandler,  Senator,  37 
Charleston  convention  of  1860,  108, 

124,  125 

Chase,  Justice,  79 
Chase,  Senator,  114,  339,  423 
Chicago,  111.,  183,  432 
Chickamauga  National  Park,  376 
Choate,  Rufus,  134,  311,  312,  313, 

339 
Cilley,  Jonathan,  150, 151, 152, 153, 

154 

Clark,  Daniel,  136 
Clark,  George  Rogers,  84,  356,  428 
Clarke,  Professor,  175 
Clay,  Henry,  6,  19,  31,  36,  54,  75, 

86,  94,  95,  97,  98,  103,  104,  106, 

114,  120,  124,  134,  139,  140,  147, 

154,  194,  216,  223,  224,  286,  288, 

310,  339,  381,  382,  407,  411,  422 
Clayton,  Senator,  102 
Cleveland,  Grover,  51,  54,  239-245, 

334,  368,  369 

Clinton,  DeWitt,  157,  158,  159 
Clinton,  George,  61,  63 
Cttture,  73,  74 
Cobb,  Howell,  98 
Code  of  honor,  the  146-173 
Colfax,  Schuyler,  61 


Collins,  General,  285 
Colquitt,  Senator,  66 
Columbus,  Christopher,  342, 343, 364 
"Compromise  measures  of  1850,"  2 
Confederation,  Articles  of,  68-70 
Conference  Bill,  15 
Conger,  Representative,  32 
Congress: 

27th,  130-134 

28th,  98 

44th,  1st  Session,  12,  13 

44th,  2nd  Session,  13-46 

46th,  47-56,  128 
Constitution  of  the  United  States, 

the,  67,  69-73;    twelfth  amend 
ment  to,  76 

Convention  of  1787,  67,  69-72 
Conway  Cabal,  the,  155,  156,  157 
Cook,  Daniel  P.,  96,  139,  419,  432 
Cooper,  Dr.,  161,  162 
Corcoran,  W.  W.,  219 
Corwin,  Senator,  102 
Covert,  Hon.  James  W.,  48,  49 
Cox,  Samuel  S.  ("Sunset"),  26,  38- 

41,  133 
Crawford,  William  H.,  76,  94,  139, 

339 

Crisp,  Speaker,  334 
Crittenden,  Senator  John  J.,  36,  97, 

102,  151,  194,  339,  381,  407,  422 
Cummins,  J.,  248,  249 
Curtis,  Benjamin  R.,  80,  264 
Cushing,  Caleb,  125,  348 


Dallas,  George  M.,  61,  102,  129 
Davis,   Hon.  David,   3,  227,  274, 

286,  287,  402,  421 
Davis,  Jefferson,  19,  102,  114,  171, 

260,  266,  272,  325,  381,  423 
Dayton,  Senator,  102,  114,  158 
Decatur,  Stephen,  85,  148-150 
Depew,  Hon.  Chauncey,  342,  343 
Dickinson,  Charles,  141 
Dix,  Senator,  102 
Donnelly,  Hon.  Ignatius,  217 
Dorshemer,  William,  394 
Douglas,    Stephen   A.,   9,   92-127, 

154,  205,  213,  226,  238,  246,  247, 

274,  339,  381,  419,  422,  423,  432, 

433 

Drake  Constitution,  295-301 
Dred  Scott  Decision,  111,  119,  122 
Drummond,  Judge,  252 
Duels,  notable,  147-173 


INDEX 


437 


Duluth,  Minn.,  43 
Duncan,  Dr.,  151 

E 

Eaton,   Hon.  John  H.,   136,   138, 

140,  144,  145 

Eaton,  Mrs.  John  H.,  136,  137,  138, 

141,  142,  143,  144,  145 
Edwards,  Ninian,  96 
Electoral  college,  78 

Electoral  Commission,  14-18, 33, 77 
Elkins,  Senator,  24 
Ellsworth,  Miss,  134 
Ellsworth,  Oliver,  72 
Emancipation,  proclamation  of,  90 
"English  Amendment,"  108 
English,  R.  W.,  173 
English,  Thomas  Dunn,  393 
Evarts,  William  M.,  80,  262-267 
Everett,  Edward,  134,  311,  314,  339 
Ewing,  Adlai,  322 
Ewing,  Finis,  322 
Ewing,  James  S.,  9,  96,  250,  274, 

346,  378,  401 
Ewing,  Hon.  William  Lee  D.,  417 


Fairbanks,  Charles  W.,  61 
Fell,  Hon.  Jesse  W.,  9 
Fellows,  John  R.,  271,  272 
Ferguson,  William  I.,  170 
Fessenden,  Senator,  339 
Ficklin,  Representative,  98 
Field,  Cyrus  W.,  32,  33 
Field,  Dr.  Henry  M.,  32 
Field,  Hon.  David  Dudley,  32 
Field,  Stephen  J.,  32,  167,  386 
Fifer,  Joseph  W.,  250,  346,  347 
Fillmore,  Millard,  61,  62,  194 
Fish,  Hon.  Hamilton,  20,  98 
Florida,  15-17,  76, 125 
Flower,  Representative,  285 
"Flush  Times,  The,"  386 
Flynn,  Dennis,  53 
Foltz,  Dr.,  151 
Force  Bill,  29,  31,  242 
Ford  Governor,   3,  186,  198,  202, 

204,  205,  206,  207,  208,  209,  210, 

211,  212,  213 
Ford,  Judge,  97 
Forrest,  Edwin,  303,  304,  305 
Forrest,  General,  257 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  69,  132,  147, 

337 


Freeport,  111.,  119,  121,  122 
Fremont,  John  C.,  106,  114,  169 
Fry,  General  S.  S.,  258-261 
Frye,  Senator,  24 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  103,  115,  119, 

120 
Fuller,  Melville  W.,  240,  252 


G 


Gaines,  General  Edmund  P.,  136, 

137 

Gaines,  Myra  Clark,  136,  137 
GaUatin,  Albert,  220 
Gardner,  Mr.,  222 
Gardner,  Miss,  222,  223 
Garfield,  James  A.,  12,  21,  22,  62, 

227 

Garland,  Senator,  240 
Gates,  General  Horatio,  155,  156 
George  the  Third,  85 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  61,  63 
Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  98 
Giles,  Senator  William  B.,  219-221 
Gilmer,  Hon.  Thomas  W.,  221,  222 
Gilmer,  Miss,  219 
Gordon,  General,  285,   325 
Grady,  Henry  W.,   285 
Graham,  Miss,  219,  220 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  101 
Graves,  William  J.,  150,  151,  152 
Greeley,  Horace,  294,  391,   392 
Greene,  Nathaniel,  155 
Gridley.  General,  274 
Grundy,  Felix,  138,  194,  216 
Gwin,  William  M.,  169,  170 
Gwinett,  Button,  154,  155 


Hale,  Senator,  24,  36,  102 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  63,  69,  75, 

76,  157,  160-166,  297,  336 
Hamilton,  Gail,  20 
Hamlin,  Hannibal,  61,  98 
Hancock,  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  19, 

20,  101 

Hardin,  Ben,   194 
Hardin,  John  J.,  93,  96,  173,  213, 

214,  409,  420 

Harlan,  John  Marshall,  29 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  242 
Harrison,  Hon.  Carter  H.,  27 
Harrison,   WiUiam  Henry,  62,  9S, 

106,  114,  311 


438 


INDEX 


Hawaiian  Annexation  Treaty,  242 
Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  13,  14,  16, 

17,  76 
Hayes-Tilden   contest,    13-18,    33, 

76,   77 

Hayne,  Robert  Young,  13,  339,  382 
Haynie,  Col.  W.  D.,  395 
Heise,  John,  247,  249 
Henderson,  Hon.  John  B.,  352 
Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  61,  288 
Hennepin,  Louis,  425-427 
Henry,  Hon.  Gustavus  A.,  321,  322 
Henry,  Hon.  William  Wirt,  334 
Henry,  Patrick,  87,  334,  357,  365, 

429 

Henry,   Prof.   Joseph,    174,    180 
Hill,  Hon.  David  B.,  285 
Hill,  Gen.  A.  P.,  101 
Hill,   Representative,    12 
Hoar,  Hon.  George  F.,  13,  25,  26 
Hobart,  Garrett  A.,  61 
Hoge,  Joseph  P.,  205-207 
Holman,  Hon.  William  S.,  23,  24, 

34-36 

Homestead  law,  5 
House  of  Representatives,  the,  71, 

72,  73,  74,  75,  79,  80 
House     of     Representatives     con 
trasted   with   British    House   of 

Commons,  47,  48 

Houston,  Sam,  101,  102,  130,  339 
Howe,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward,   342 
Hubbard,  Gardner,  308,  310,  312, 

313 

Hull,  Isaac,  85 

Hungerford,   Henry  James,   177 
Hunt,  Washington,  98 


Illinois,  84,  182,  183,  356,  357,  425, 

426-433 

Illinois  Central   Railroad,    104 
Illinois  Constitutional   Convention 

of  1847,  170 

Illinois  Tenth  General  Assembly,  96 
Impeachment,  of  Belknap,  13,  79; 

of   Chase,   79;    of  Johnson,  62, 

79,  80,  263-266;  of  Tyler,  62 
Ingalls,  John  J.,  314 
Ingersoll,  Clark,  227 
Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  45,  225-228, 

273,  274,  313,  378 
Ingham,  Secretary,  141,  143,  144 
Ireland,  a  tribute  to,  329-331 
Irving,  Henry,  305 


Jackson,  Andrew,  6,  76,  94,  95,  97, 

99,  124,  136,  138,  139,  141,  143, 

144,  169,  177,  178,  189,  194,  246, 

321,  379,  382 

Jackson,  Dr.  Charles  S.,  131 
Jackson,  Gen.  Stonewall,  101,  259 
Jackson,  Mrs.  Andrew,  141 
Jamestown   Exposition,    355,    357 
Jamestown,  Va.,  357,  361,  363 
Jay,  John,  336 
Jefferson,  Joe,  304,  305 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  14,  60,  61,  63, 

73,  75,  84,  119, 124,  160,  221,  336, 

337,  357,  365,  429 
John,  Doctor,  274-284 
Johnson,  Andrew,  61,  62,  79,  97, 

98,  263,  321,  322 
Johnson,  Hon.  Cave,  349 
Johnson,    Representative,    130 
Johnson,  Richard  M.,  61,  75 
Johnson,    Sen.    Reverdy,    102 
Johnston,    Gen.    Josepn    E.,    49, 

101 

Johnston,  Hon.  Stoddart,  45 
Joliet,  Louis,  425-427 
Jones,  John  Rice,  171 
Jones,  Senator,  151,  152,  153 


K 


Kane,  Senator,  420 

Kansas,  105,   107,   108,   115,    117, 

122 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  9,  105,  106, 

119,  121,  122,  123 
Kaskaskia,  111.,  182,  183,  356,  428, 

429,  431,  432 
Keifer,  Representative,  53,  54,  246, 

355 

Kelley,  Hon.  William  D.,  23 
Kellogg,  Judge,  226 
Kendall,   Amos,    138 
Kenna,  Hon.  John  E.,  49,  52 
Kennan,  Commodore,  222 
Kennedy,  Hon.  John  P.,  7,  130 
Kentucky    House    of    Representa 
tives,  6 

Kerr,  Hon.  Michael  C.,  18,  31 
King,  William  R.,  61,  63,  102 
Kinney,  Rev.  William,  189 
Knott,  Hon.  J.  Proctor,  13,  26,  29, 

30,  36,  39,  41-46,  148,  244,  306, 

344,  387,  397 
Knox,  Henry,  336 


INDEX 


439 


La  Salle,  Robert  de,  425-427 

Lake  Front  Bill,  249,  250 

Lamar,  Lucius  Q.  C.,  12,  28-30, 

Lament,  Daniel  S.,  239,  244 

Langley,  S.  P.,  174,  176,  181 

Latta,  James,  417 

Laurens,  Col.  John,  157 

Law,  William,  206,  209 

Law,   Wilson,  209 

Lawrence,  James,  85,  148 

"Lecompton  Constitution,"  107, 108 

Lee,  Arthur,  357,  429 

Lee,  Gen.  Charles,  155,  156,  157 

Lee,  Col.  Phil,  410-412 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  101,  260,  288 

Lewis,  Meriwether,  84 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  2,  3,  6,  8-9,  62, 
79,  82,  83,  85,  86,  88,  89,  90,  91, 
93,  96,  98,  102,  107,  109,  110, 
111,  113,  114,  115,  116,  120,  122, 
123,  124,  125,  171-173,  225,  226, 
237,  246,  272,  274,  275,  286,  288, 
304,  314,  322,  352-354,  377,  386, 
402,  409,  419,  423,  433 

Lincoln  Centenary,  82 

Linder,  V.  F.,  409 

Lockwood,  Judge,  97,  422 

Logan,  Gen.  John  A.,  93,  96 

Longstreet,  Gen.  James,  101 

Lord,  Representative,   13 

Louisiana,  15-17,  76,  125 

Louisiana  Purchase,  84,   102,  430 


M 


Macon,  Nathaniel,  220 

Madison,  James,  69,  71,  83,  87,  117, 

119,  124,  157,  220,  244,  366,  367 
Maine  Law,  the,  393,  394 
Manning,  Daniel,  239,  240 
Marquette,  Father,  425-427 
Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  36,  38,  194, 

216,  407,  408 
Martin,  Luther,  79 
Mason,  George,  69,  366 
Mason,  James  Murray,  89 
Mason,  Senator,  102,  131 
Maxey,  Senator,  20 
Maximilian,   Emperor,   169,   170 
Maynard,  Judge,  394 
McClellan,  Gen.  George  B.,  101 
McClernand,  General,  96 
McCorkle,   Hon.   J.   W.,    169 
MoCormick,  Judge,  29 


McCrary,  Hon.  George  W.,  23 
McCullough,  John,  45,  303,  305 
McDougall,  Sen.  James  A.,  213, 401, 

402,  422 

McDuffie,  Senator,  325 
Mclntosh,  General,  154 
McKenzie,  Hon.  James,  36,  49,  50, 

51,  148,  321 

McKibben,  Joseph  C.,  166,  167 
McKinley,  William,  55,  56,  62,  246 
McLean,  John,  96,  417-420,  432 
McLean  County,  413-432 
Menifee,  Representative,  150,  151, 

216,  407 

Merryman,  Dr.,  172,  173 
Metamora,  111.,  225,  273,  274,  281 
Mexican  War,  8,  101, 
Milburn,  Rev.  W.  H.,  27,  332,  333 
Mills,  Senator  Roger  Q.,  322 
Mirabeau,  Charles  Itfaurice,  88,  307 
Missouri  Compromise,  2,  103,  105, 

115,  117 

Money,   Senator,   24 
Monroe,  James,  76,  94,   139,  357, 

429 

Monroe  Doctrine,  242,  243,  367 
Montgomery,  Richard,  330 
Moore,  A.,  248,  249 
Morehead,  Governor,  321 
Morgan,  John,  257 
Mormon     exodus     from     Illinois, 

Mormonism,    and    the    Mormon 

war,  197-215 
Morrison,  Hon.  William  R.,  26,  27, 

227 

Morse,  Samuel  F.  B.,  129-135 
Morton,  Hon.  Levi  P.,  48,  61 
Morton,  Sterling,  244,  368,  369 


N 


National  Hotel,  Bloomington,  III.,  9 
Nauvoo,    111.,   202-204,   207,   209- 

211 

Nebraska,  105,  107,  115,  117 
New  Mexico,  103 
New  Orleans,  battle  of,  85,  99,  136, 

137 
Norwich,  Conn.,  22 


O 


O'Connor,  Michael,  53 
O«lesby,  Gov.  Richard  J.,  346,  *47 
•a,  Theodore,  216 


440 


INDEX 


Oregon,  17,  100 
Orendorff,  Thomas,  417 
Ottawa,  HI.,  110,  111,  115,  124 


Palmer,  Gov.  John  M.,  322 
Paterson,  William,  70 
Peace  Jubilee  Banquet,  56 
"Peggy  O'Neal,"  see  Eaton,  Mrs. 

John  H. 

Pendleton,  Nathaniel,    162,    165 
Perry,  Oliver  Hazard,  85,   148 
Phelps,  Professor,  4 
Phillips,  D.  L.,  250 
PhiUips,  Hon.  Isaac  N.,  314 
Phillips,  Wendell,  310 
Pierce,  Franklin,  8,  101,  194 
Pierce,  Representative,  16 
Pinckney,  Charles  C.,  69,  79,  251 
Pocahontas,  360 
Polk,  James  K.,  24,  55,  100,  101, 

128,  194,  332,  349 
Pope,  Hon.  Nathaniel,  409 
Pope,  Judge,  205 
Pratt,  O.  O.,  171 
Pratt,  Orson,  215 
Pratt,  Parley  P.,  212 
Prentiss,  S.  S.,  41,  83,  216,  311,  312, 

356 
President,  the  office  of,  56-58,  62, 

63,  74,  75,  76,  78,  79 
Presidential  contest,  of  1824,  138, 

139;  of  1856,  106;  of  1860,  108, 

225,  226;  of  1876,  13-18,  76,  77; 

of  1884,  239,  240;  of  1888,  241; 

of  1892,  241,  242. 
Preston,  Senator,  154,  194,  339 
Previous  question,  73,  74 
Prime,  Dr.,  135 

Princeton,  man-of-war,  222,  223 
Proctor,  Senator,  36 
Purman,  Representative,  16 
Purple,  Judge,  274 

Q 

Quintard,  Bishop,  19,  20 


R 


Randall,  Hon.  Samuel  J.,  31,  32,  54 
Randolph,  Edmund,  336 
Randolph,  John,  55,  69,  79,   138, 
129,  140,  147,  220,  339,  356,  391 


Reagan,  Hon.  John  H.,  12,  28 
Reed,  Hon.  Thomas  B.,  53,  54,  55, 

246,  268,  269 
Reynolds,  Gov.  John,  182-196,  202, 

203,  418 

Rhett,  Barnwell,  98 
Rice,  Nathan  L.,  322 
Richmond,  Judge,  274 
Rigdon,  Sydney,  199,  212 
Rooinson  House,  Beverly,  20 
Rodes,  Solomon  P.,  344,  345 
Rogers,  Dr.  Thomas  P.,  246-250 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  61,  62 
Rush,  Richard,  178,  179 
Rutledge,  Edward,  69 


San  Jacinto,  battle  of,  101 
Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  360,  361 
Santa  Ana,  General,  101,  256 
Sargent,  Aaron  A.,  348 
Scates,  Judge,  97 
Schoenberg,  Colonel,  151 
Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  8,  101,  114 
Scott,     Jr.,     Collegiate     Institute, 

Matthew  T.,  371-375 
Scott,  Matthew  T.,  371,  372,  373 
Scott,  Mrs.  Julia  Green,  371,  374 
Seelye,  Julius  H.,  16 
Semple,  Senator,  96 
Senate,  the,  64-66,  67-81,  337-341 
Seward,  William  Henry,  90,   114, 

154,  339,  423 
Sharon,  Senator,  169 
Shaw,  Judge,  274,  378 
Shelley,  Representative,  49 
Sheridan,  Phil.,  330 
Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T.,  101 
Sherman,  James  S.,  61 
Sherman,  Roger,  69,  72 
Shields,  Gen.  James,  96,  171-173, 

274,  330,  420 
Slavery,  2,  3,  86,  102,  103,  105,  106, 

108,  115,  116,  117,  118,  119,  120, 

121,  122,  123 
Slidell,  John,  89,  98 
Smith,  Capt.  John,  360 
Smith,  Hon.  David  A.,  409 
Smith,  Hiram,  206,  209,  211 
Smith,  Joseph,  198-213,  409 
Smith,  Joseph  F.,  208,  432 
Smithson,  James,  174-181 
Smithsonian  Institution,  174-181 
Spears,  Representative,  26 
Spencer,  Hon.  Hamilton,  166 


INDEX 


441 


Springer,  Hon.  William  M.,  18,  25, 
26,  49,  54 

Stanberry,  Henry,  80,  264 

Stanford,  Senator,  66 

Stanley,  Representative,  130 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  12,  30,  31, 
98,  129,  133 

Stevens,  Hon.  Thaddeus,  20, 80,  352 

Stevenson,  Adlai  E.,  first  impres 
sions  of  Lincoln,  8;  on  the  law 
and  lawyers,  9-11;  member  forty- 
fourth  Congress,  12;  speech  in 
favor  of  the  Hayes-Tilden  Elec 
toral  Commission,  14-18;  member 
Board  of  Visitors  to  West  Point 
1877,  19,  20;  member  forty-sixth 
Congress,  47;  member  Bimetallic 
Commission  to  Europe,  56;  speech 
at  Peace  Jubilee  Banquet,  Chica 
go  1898,  56-59;  speech  before  the 
Senate  upon  retiring  from  office, 
64-66;  speech  at  Lincoln  Centen 
nial  Celebration,  Bloomington, 
IU.,  82-91;  assistant  Postmaster- 
General,  243;  speech  at  banquet 
of  United  Irish  Societies  1900, 
329-331;  speech  at  Centennial 
celebration  of  laying  of  corner 
stone  of  the  National  Capitol, 
334;  speech  at  unveiling  of  statue 
of  Columbus,  New  York,  342-343; 
Speech  at  Jamestown  Exposition, 
355-367;  speech  at  dedication  of 
Matthew  T.  Scott,  Jr.,  Collegi 
ate  Institute,  371-375;  speech  at 
dedication  of  Chickamauga  Na 
tional  Park,  376-377;  address  at 
McLean  County  "Home  Com 
ing,"  413-433 

Stevenson,  James,  322 

Stewart,  Alphonso,  170,431 

Stites,  Judge,  321 

Stockbridge,  Senator,  66 

Stockton,  Commodore  R.  F.,  222 

Strode,  Colonel,  111 

Stuart,  John  T.,  8,  93,  96,  353,  402, 
409,  422 

Sumner,  Charles,  28,  114,  339,  352, 
423 

Swartout,  John,  158 


Talleyrand,    Gabriel    Honore"    Ri- 

quetti,  88 
Taney,  R.  B.,  Ill,  119 


Taylor,  John,  198,  209,  210,  211 

Taylor,  Senator,  24 

Taylor,  Zachary,  62,  101,  106,  114, 
409 

Telegraph,  Morse's  electro-mag 
netic,  129,  130-135 

Terry,  David  S.,  167,  168 

Texas,  103,  125 

Texas,  annexation  of,  101 

Thatcher,  Representative,  159 

Thomas,  Gen.  George  Henry,  101 

Thornton,  Colonel,  168 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  13-16,  40, 76, 394 

Tipton,  Hon.  Thomas  F.,  47 

Tombs,  Senator,  114,  381,  423 

Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  61 

Travers,  William  R.,  395 

Treat,  Judge  Samuel  H.,  97,  274, 
401,  402 

Treaty  of  Ghent,  85,  100 

Trent,  S.  S.,  89 

Trumbull,  Senator  Lyman,  339, 
381,  382 

Tucker,  Randolph,  39 

Turney,  Hon.  James,  187 

Tyler,  John,  61,  62,  98,  99,  101,  222, 
223,  224,  310,  311 


U 

Upshur,  A.  P.,  222 
Utah,  103 


Van  Buren,  Martin,  61,  75, 128, 129, 
141,  142,  143,  144,  179,  203 

Van  Ness,  W.  P.,  161,  162 

Vance,  Gen.  R.  B.,  292 

Vance,  Zebulon  B.,  39,  66,  288-294 

Vandalia,  IU.,  96,  111 

Venezuela,  242,  243 

Vest,  Senator,  37 

Vice-presidency,  the,  60-66 

Vice-president,  the,  60,  62,  63,  64, 
75,  78,  79 

Vigilance  Committee,  168 

Vilas,  Hon.  William  F.,  239,  240 

Virginia,  356-367 

Voorhees,  Senator,  227,  333 


W 

Walker,  Cyrus,  205,  206 
Walker,  Hon.  Robert  J.,  107 


44t 


INDEX 


Walter,  Thomas  U.,  338 
Washington,  D.  C.,  334,  336-341 
Washington,  George,  69,  73,  84,  87, 

88,  117,  119,  155,  156,  157,  161, 

165,  177,  220,  221,  263,  314,  335, 

336,  337,  366,  367 
Watterson,  Hon.  Henry,  33 
Webb,  James  Watson,  150, 151, 152 
Webster,  Daniel,  13,  59,  80,  97,  99, 

102,  104,  106,  134,  142,  144,  154, 

194,  286,  307,  308,  311,  312,  313, 

338,  339,  381,  422 
Weldon,  Judge  Lawrence,  9,  250, 

346,  353,  354,  401 
Wentworth,  Representative,  98 
Wheeler,  Joe,  257,  269 
Wheeler,  Hon.  William  A.,  21,  24, 

47,  61 

Whiteside,  Gen.  Samuel,  173 
Whitney,  William  C.,  239,  240 
Whitthorne,  Senator,  349 
Wilkes,  Captain,  89 
Williams,      James       D.,      ("Blue 

Jeans"),  33,  34 


Williams,  Hon.  Robert  E.,  19,  2T4 
Williams,  Senator,  153 
Wilson,  Henry,  61,  66,  97 
Wilson,  James,  69,  71 
Wilson,  Gen.  James  Grant,  342 
Wilson,  Judge,  252 
Wintersmith,    Col.   Dick,   216-218 
Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  97,  134,  311, 

343 

Wirt,  William,  79,  149,  150,  251 
Wise,  Henry  A.,  98,  151,  152 
Wood,  Hon.  Fernando,  28,  133 
Woodbury,  Senator,  194 
Woolford,  Hon.  Frank,  256-261 
Wright,  Hendrick  B.,  128 
Wright,  Senator  Silas,  129, 134, 154, 

194 


Yeardley,  Sir  Geor 
Young,  Brigham,  II 
Young,  Judge,  3 
Young,  President,  29 


i,  357 

,  208,  212,  214 


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